Gilead Sciences NEJM publication of remdesivir data for COVID-19 shows promise

Pharma News: Gilead Sciences issued a statement on data from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ (NIAID) study of the investigational antiviral drug remdesivir, published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

Merdad Parsey, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, Gilead Sciences, said “We are pleased that the findings from the NIAID trial of remdesivir in hospitalised patients with advanced COVID-19 have been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. These findings support the use of remdesivir in this population, with the largest benefit observed among individuals who required oxygen supplementation but were not mechanically ventilated. We anticipate that results from our Phase III SIMPLE-Severe study, which is evaluating remdesivir in a similar population of COVID-19 patients requiring oxygen but not on mechanical ventilation, will be published in the near future. These data from the SIMPLE-Severe study support treatment of some patients for 5 days rather than 10 days, depending on clinical status.

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Additionally, results from our Phase III SIMPLE-Moderate study, which is evaluating remdesivir in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 and lung involvement not requiring oxygen supplementation, are expected at the end of this month. This study should provide more information on the utility of 5 or 10 days of remdesivir versus standard of care in patients with earlier stages of disease.

Beyond the ongoing studies of remdesivir, we look forward to the initiation of combination studies of remdesivir to understand whether the addition of other drugs may enhance patient outcomes.”

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