China Begins Testing an Antiviral Drug in Coronavirus Patients

Two clinical trials will take place in Wuhan, China, the center of the outbreak; 500 patients will receive the drug, and comparison groups will get a placebo, Mr. McKeel said.

One trial, which began enrolling patients on Thursday, includes people who are severely ill with symptoms such as needing oxygen. The other trial will involve patients who are hospitalized but not as sick.

The patients will be given the drug intravenously for 10 days, and then assessed 28 days after the treatment to see how they fared compared to the placebo groups.

If the drug works, will Gilead be able to provide enough for everyone who needs it?

“There are currently limited available clinical supplies of remdesivir, but we are working to increase our available supply as rapidly as possible,” Mr. McKeel said.

Gilead had stockpiled the drug, as well as the materials used to make it, for use against Ebola. The company is now using that stockpile for the trials in China and for individual patients like the one in Washington State, whose doctors sought special permission from the Food and Drug Administration for “compassionate use” so that they could give him an unapproved drug.

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The company plans to speed production and is looking for “manufacturing partners in multiple geographies,” Mr. McKeel said, adding that Gilead was going ahead with these preparations without knowing yet whether the drug works against the new coronavirus.

In the meantime, the Wuhan Institute of Virology has applied for a patent in China to use remdesivir to treat the coronavirus, according to a statement on the institute’s website.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/health/coronavirus-treatments.html?emc=rss&partner=rss