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2B Saturday, May 2, 2020 The Observer & Baker City Herald Experimental drug shows promise ■ Major study shows remdesivir shortened recovery time for COVID-19 patients and could potentially save lives By Marilynn Marchione “What it has proven is that a drug can block this virus. This will be the standard of care.” AP Chief Medical Writer For the fi rst time, a major study suggests that an experimental drug works against the new coronavirus, and U.S. government offi cials said Wednesday that they would work to make it avail- able to appropriate patients as quickly as possible. In a study of 1,063 patients sick enough to be hospitalized, Gilead Sci- ences’s remdesivir shortened the time to recovery by 31% — 11 days on average versus 15 days for those just given usual care, offi cials said. The drug also might be reduc- ing deaths, although that’s not certain from the partial results revealed so far. “What it has proven is that a drug can block this virus,” the National Institutes of Health’s Dr. Anthony Fauci said. “This will be the standard of care,” and any other po- tential treatments will now have to be tested against or in combination with remdesi- vir, he said. No drugs are approved now for treating the corona- virus, which has killed about 226,000 people worldwide since it emerged late last year in China. An effective treatment for COVID-19 could have a profound effect on the pandemic’s impact, especially because a vaccine is likely to be a year or more away. Fauci revealed the results while speaking from the White House. Remdesivir was being evaluated in at least seven major studies, but this one, led by the NIH, was the strictest test. Inde- pendent monitors notifi ed study leaders just days ago that the drug was working, so it was no longer ethical to continue with a placebo :HDUHKHUHIRU\RXU PHQWDOKHDOWKRU DGGLFWLRQVQHHGV &DOOXVIRUWHOHKHDOWK RULQSHUVRQYLVLWV 0)DPSP 6DW6XQDPSP <RX0DWWHU — Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Institutes of Health would not. Remdesivir is among dozens of treatments being tried against the coronavirus but was the farthest along in testing. It’s given through an IV and blocks an enzyme the virus uses to copy its genetic material. In animal tests against SARS and MERS, diseases caused by Ulrich Perrey / Getty Images-TNS similar coronaviruses, the Vials of the drug remdesivir on display during a news drug helped prevent infec- conference about the start of a study with use of the tion and reduced the severity drug in severely ill patients at the University Hospital Ep- of symptoms when given pendorf in Hamburg, Germany. early enough in the course of illness. group. comparison, antiviral drugs “We are excited and Dr. Elizabeth Hohmann, for the fl u shorten illness optimistic” about the new who enrolled 49 patients in by about one day on aver- results, said Vanderbilt Uni- the experiment at Massachu- age and only when started versity’s Dr. Mark Denison. setts General Hospital, said within a day or two of symp- His lab fi rst tested remdesi- study leaders were told Tues- toms fi rst appearing. vir against other coronavi- day night that the results are In the remdesivir study, ruses in 2013 and has done based on “the fi rst cut of 460 about 8% of those on the much research on it since, patients.” drug died versus 11.6% of but was not involved in the “There’s over 1,000 in the the comparison group, but NIH study. study so there’s a lot more the difference is not large “It’s active against every information to come” and full enough for scientists to say coronavirus that we’ve ever results need to be seen, she the drug was the reason. tested,” Denison said. “It was said. “I’m cautiously optimis- No information was given very hard for the virus to tic.” on side effects. Fauci said full develop resistance to remde- Dr. Babafemi Taiwo, chief results would be published sivir. That means the drug of infectious diseases at in a medical journal soon. would likely be effective over Northwestern Medicine, He said fi nal numbers might longer term use.” which also participated in change a bit but that the The NIH study started in the study, called the results study’s overall conclusion February; the fi rst par- “really exciting.” ticipant was a patient in “For the fi rst time we have Nebraska who had been a large, well-conducted trial” showing a treatment helps, he said. “This is not a miracle CBD rich hemp oil & treats drug ... but it’s defi nitely bet- for pets. ORGANIC pet ter than anything we have.” foods, raw or lightly cooked. Fauci said the partial results showed that the drug had “a clear-cut signifi cant (406) 380-2729 positive effect,” shorten- 607 Adams Ave, La Grande ing the time to hospital OPEN FOR BUSINESS discharge by four days. By evacuated from the Dia- mond Princess cruise ship docked in Japan. It quickly enrolled its original goal of 440 patients and then was expanded to give more an- swers on questions such as which subgroups may or may not benefi t, and other factors that may affect success, such as how early the drug was given. The study only tested the drug in patients sick enough to be hospitalized — typical- ly with pneumonia and often needing oxygen — so its safety and effectiveness for people less ill isn’t known. The study will continue to enroll new patients. It was set up as an umbrella trial to test many treatments, although they now will have to be tested against remdesi- vir or with it, Fauci said. Separately on Wednesday, California-based Gilead announced partial results from its own ongoing study of the drug in severely ill, hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The company said patients treated for fi ve days “achieved similar improvement” in health as others treated for 10 days. However, that result is hard to interpret because there is no comparison group of people getting usual care, so it’s impossible to know how much patients would have improved on their own. Yet another study tested remdesivir in severely ill pa- tients in China, which was stopped after only 237 of a planned 453 patients were enrolled. Partial results published Wednesday in the British medical journal Lancet suggest the drug did not speed recovery in that study, but it was too small to be defi nitive, Fauci and study leaders said. Gilead also is testing rem- desivir in a separate study of moderately ill coronavirus patients. No results have yet been announced from that study, which does have a comparison group. Besides these studies, Gilead also has given rem- desivir to more than 1,700 patients on a case-by-case emergency basis. The drug is not yet approved anywhere in the world for any use. A statement from the Food and Drug Administra- tion says that the agency has been talking with Gilead “regarding making remdesivir available to pa- tients as quickly as possible, as appropriate.” Gilead said it was ramp- ing up production and aims to have more than 140,000 treatment courses by the end of May, more than 500,000 by October and more than 1 million by December. Let Your GRADUATES’ Accomplishments SHINE! With college commencements being canceled and uncertainty with high school graduations, HONOR YOUR SENIORS +HUHWRVDIHO\DVVLVW\RX ZLWK\RXU5HDO(VWDWHQHHGV 2020 SENIOR SAMANTHA BACON Open For Business in this special way with a custom 18” x 24” corrugated plastic, double-sided yard sign! Order by May 8th and we’ll deliver to your door before Memorial Day! 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