The Effect of Remdesivir
On May 1st, the drug remdesivir was approved for emergency treatment of COVID-19 by the FDA. Now, almost five months later, the drug has been officially approved as a regular treatment for children over twelve and adults and is the first and only drug to receive this official approval. The formal approval, as opposed to emergency approval, indicates that the drug went under more rigorous testing. Remdesivir, which developed in response to Ebola and hepatitis C, has been proven to modestly reduce hospitalization time for severe infections. The FDA claimed that the drug cut the average recovery time by five days and said that the drug warranted its approval after three random and controlled experiments conducted on patients with mild to severe symptoms of the virus. However, its endorsement has drawn its critics.
The WHO dissented from the FDA’s claim after conducting their experiment with four different treatments: remdesivir, the HIV combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, the auto-immune interferon drug, and the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine. Their results found that none of these drugs had a substantial effect on the recovery period or death rate of COVID-19. That said, the WHO’s results have not been peer-reviewed, and the organization has received criticism that their worldwide experiment was too vast to comprehend the data accurately. However, their results are in direct contradiction with the FDA’s finding that remdesivir does have an impact on the length of the recovery period.
Another reason to be critical about remdesivir’s approval is its timing. President Trump has claimed that there will be a vaccine for the virus before Election Day, and with the election within a week, there has been skepticism that the approval may be affected by a desire to appear that COVID-19 is under control and is well handled.
There are also economic reasons to expedite the process of approving a drug. Gilead, the company that produces remdesivir, experienced a five percent rise in the value of their shares after the announcement. Furthermore, their prices for a five-day treatment, $2,340 US dollars for people covered by governmental health care, and $3,120 US dollars for people with privatized health care, will certainly bring in revenue given the vast spread of COVID-19. Their manufacturing factories are now in forty countries all over the world.
While the approval of remdesivir is a seemingly wonderful prospect for COVID-19 patients all over the world, there are several factors that a critical eye must not forget when understanding the approval’s significance.
By: Adele Auchincloss
Sources:
FDA: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-treatment-covid-19
BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54654635
CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/22/fda-approves-gileads-remdesivir-as-coronavirus-treatment.html
