Remdesivir: does the Ebola drug help with Covid-19?

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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The drug Remdesivir was originally developed to fight Ebola. Now it is increasingly becoming a beacon of hope against the corona virus. The active ingredient inhibits the replication of so-called RNA viruses - which, in addition to the Ebola virus, also include the new type of coronavirus. Another study in Chicago has now come to promising results.

This article has been updated as the occasion arises.

After encouraging results from experiments in China, various German university hospitals are currently testing the active ingredient on seriously ill patients.

The results that leaked from studies with the active ingredient in the United States have now caused a stir. According to information from the health portal "Stat", Covid-19 patients in a hospital in Chicago responded very well to treatment with remdesivir, as reported by Spiegel online.

Accordingly, the patients treated with Remdesivir daily made rapid recovery from fever and respiratory symptoms. Almost all study participants could have left the hospital after a week. Only two patients died.

A total of 125 people with Covid 19 disease participated in two phase 3 studies with remdesivir in Chicago. In 113 of them, the Covid 19 disease was severe before treatment with the Ebola active ingredient. Officially, however, the results of the two studies have not yet been published.

Not very successful with Ebola

The drug seems to be quite well tolerated - but unfortunately it did not have the hoped-for effect on Ebola patients. That is why no approval was applied for at the time.

It could work better when used against SARS-CoV-2: In laboratory tests, Remdesivir had already developed a very good antiviral effect against the Covid-19 pathogen and other coronaviruses. Initial treatment attempts on Covid 19 sufferers also seem promising, but are not yet proof of general effectiveness.

Hope for moderately to severely ill people?

"The active ingredient is definitely a bearer of hope," said Clemens Wendtner, chief physician at Munich Clinic Schwabing, even before the US results were announced on Deutschlandfunk. His clinic is one of three German centers in which two studies on the effectiveness of the drug against SARS-CoV-2 have started.

One tests the effectiveness in seriously ill Covid 19 patients. The second examines whether the active ingredient can prevent a severe course in moderately ill patients so that, for example, they do not have to be looked after by intensive care medicine in the first place.

Easier course of the disease thanks to remdesivir?

In contrast to the USA, the German studies regularly give a group of patients an infusion solution containing the active ingredient. An equally seriously ill control group is only treated according to the standard procedure. In the end, the researchers compared whether the patients treated with Remdesivir actually recovered better.

A total of around 1000 patients will take part in the studies. The researchers expect the first results as early as May.

How Remdesivr Inhibits the Virus

Remdesivir is a so-called nucleotide analog. The active ingredient is similar to the RNA building blocks that the virus uses to replicate. If remdesivir is built into the new virus RNA instead of the RNA building blocks, the pathogen can no longer multiply.

EMA recommends Remdsivir for people who are seriously ill

At the beginning of April, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended the treatment of seriously ill Covid-19 patients with remdesivir. The prerequisite is that all other options for action do not help sufficiently. Exclusion criteria for treatment include kidney and liver damage.

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