The World Health Organization recommended against using Gilead Sciences Inc.’s remdesivir to treat hospitalized Covid-19 patients less than a month after U.S. regulators granted the drug a speedy approval. “There is currently no evidence that it improves survival or the need for ventilation," a panel of WHO-convened experts developing Covid-19 treatment guidelines said in The BMJ medical journal. The experts made the recommendation after the results of a global trial sponsored by the WHO, called Solidarity, found last month that remdesivir didn’t reduce deaths. Other countries have also approved remdesivir as a treatment for Covid. The FDA was earlier criticized for hastily authorizing an antimalarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, to treat Covid-19.

Source: Mint November 20, 2020 03:22 UTC