WILL THE DRUG REMDESIVIR BE A PANACEA FOR CORONAVIRUS PATIENTS

In the UK patients with severe coronavirus symptoms will be treated with an Ebola drug after trials proved it led to quicker recovery.


The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, has said the development as the " biggest step forward in the treatment of the coronavirus since the crisis began."


The antiviral medicine remdesivir was developed for Hepatitis C and Ebola, but  initial trials on COVID 19 patients showed it reduced the length of time they experienced  symptoms from 15 days to 11, working to stop the coronavirus reproducing.
   

It will now be prescribed for some adults and teenagers suffering serious coronavirus symptoms in NHS hospitals, having been given the permission of the Early Access to Medical Scheme. The Scheme launched by the British government 2014, tries to make certain drugs available for the seriously ill before they can be sold on the market.


Mr Hancock said during a daily meeting, on Tuesday:  "Today I can announce we are beginning a new trial for selected NHS patients of an antivirus drug called remdesivir.  There have already been some promising results on coronavirus patients, with early data suggesting it can shorten recovery time by around four days. "As you can understand we'll be prioritising the use if this treatment where it will provide the greatest benefits.  This is probably the biggest step forward since the crisis began.


Innovation Minister, Lord Bethell, said of the remdesivir decision: This shows fantastic progress as we navigate.  This unprecedented period, we must be on the front foot of the latest medical advancements, while always ensuring that patients safety is a top priority."  


Sky News health correspondent, Ashish Joshi, says that while the surch for a vaccine continues this  is the closest thing doctors"have to cure or treatment for the disease. He said that only a few patients will be given the drug and the government won't say how many or how soon.  "Matt Hancock is clearly very excited about this drug but we need to temper our expectations that is because remdesivir  is in extremely short supply but it expects availability to be extremely limited for the next few months.


The Department of Health and Social Care worked with pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, he NHS and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to clear remdesivir for use in the UK, a government spokesman said.


It has already been made available, under similar circumstances in the USA and Japan  following trials with a 1000 patients from the UK, USA, France, Italy and China, earlier this month.


President Trump has said that the US government is putting its "full power and might"  behind remdesivir.  Mr Trump has promoted a number of existing disease treatments as possible options for coronavirus patients, most notably the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.  He has been criticised of "taking the drug in a bid to ward off the virus with WHO, having stopped trialling the treatment are fears it could cause more deaths in COVID -19 patients".

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