WHO "Do Not Recommend Remdesivir Use"... Gilead "Disappointed"

Expert Panel Revealed in The BMJ

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] The World Health Organization (WHO) Guideline Development Group (GDG) expert panel stated that there is no evidence that the antiviral drug Remdesivir, which has been controversial for its effectiveness in treating COVID-19, improves survival rates and therefore does not recommend its use.

According to CNBC and other media on the 20th (local time), WHO announced in a press release that the GDG panel stated in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) that "the use of Remdesivir for hospitalized COVID-19 patients is not recommended regardless of the severity of the patient's symptoms." They added, "After thoroughly reviewing the evidence, it was concluded that Remdesivir does not have a significant impact on mortality, the need for mechanical ventilation, or other important clinical outcomes such as the time required for symptom improvement."

However, the panel acknowledged that "the certainty of the evidence is low and that this evidence does not prove the lack of benefit of Remdesivir," and said, "We support continued enrollment in trials evaluating Remdesivir to provide higher certainty of evidence for specific patient groups."

This evaluation compared the effectiveness of Remdesivir and other drugs used to treat COVID-19, including data from four international trials involving about 7,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, the panel said.

In response, Gilead stated, "Many trusted national agencies in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, and others have included Remdesivir in their COVID-19 treatment guidelines for hospitalized patients," and expressed disappointment that the WHO guidelines ignored this evidence.

Earlier, on the 16th of last month, WHO had reported that trials verifying the efficacy and safety of candidate COVID-19 treatments showed that Remdesivir had little effect in reducing hospitalization duration and mortality among COVID-19 patients.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.