Fauci touts remdesivir as coronavirus treatment after study shows success in recovery

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, says an experimental drug for coronavirus treatment shows a “clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery.”

The director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases made the comments about remdesivir Wednesday at the White House after results of a large study on the antiviral drug were released, NBC News reported.

“What it has proven is that a drug can block this virus,” Fauci said, according to The Associated Press. “This will be the standard of care.”

In a study by the National Institutes of Health of more than 1,000 patients, the antiviral drug reduced recovery time by about 30%, from 15 days to 11 days, the AP reported.

Separate from that study, biotechnology company Gilead Sciences released results Wednesday of a study on remdesivir that show it succeeded in a clinical trial.

The results showed that at least 50% of patients who were treated with the drug for five days improved and more than half were discharged from the hospital in 14 days, according to the statement.

The study evaluated the outcomes of COVID-19 patients who were given a five-day treatment of remdesivir versus a 10-day treatment. Of the group that was given the shorter treatment, 64.5% were discharged compared to 53.8% of patients who were discharged and given the 10-day treatment.

“These data are encouraging as they indicate that patients who received a shorter, 5-day course of remdesivir experienced similar clinical improvement as patients who received a 10-day treatment course,” Aruna Subramanian, an investigator of the study, said in the statement.

President Donald Trump called remdesivir, a drug created for Ebola and Marburg viruses, “promising,” according to USA Today.

Trump previously pushed for antiviral drugs, including remdesivir, to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said remdesivir will be available for “compassionate use,” meaning doctors can use them in emergency situations.

This story was originally published April 29, 2020 at 9:48 AM with the headline "Fauci touts remdesivir as coronavirus treatment after study shows success in recovery."