BOSTON — Massachusetts remains in the surge of the coronavirus, but a trial drug might be a light at the end of the tunnel in fighting the deadly virus.
Dr. Michael Gibson, a Cardiologist at Beth Israel Hospital and a Harvard Professor spoke to Boston 25 about remdesivir, an IV treatment that is bringing some hope to fighting the virus.
“If you’re out there and have symptoms, get checked out early, get drugs like this started early," said Gibson.
Remdesivir is made by Gilead Sciences, a laboratory in California, and has been showing some promise as a possible treatment for the coronavirus.
“It’s good that it’s IV because when people get really sick, their stomach often stops working," said Gibson. “We give them a lot of medicine to calm them down, morphine, and that delays the absorption of the oral drug.”
This drug is not for people with mild symptoms - it’s meant for more severe cases.
“You have to be coronavirus positive, you had to have something going on in your lungs, by chest x-ray, or by physical exam,” said Gibson.
Gibson stresses this drug is not a vaccine. He says COVID-19 is made up genes called RNA, which are building blocks.
“This drug looks like the RNA building blocks, and it jumps in there and it stops further replication of the virus," said Gibson.
A government-funded study found patients who took remdesivir recovered faster than patients who did not.
“I’m also very cheered that 3.6 percent reduction of mortality," said Gibson. "It was reduced from 11.6% down to 8%,” said Gibson.
At the same time the drug has been showing some promising results, The Lancet, a medical journal, reports there are contradictory studies about this drug. For example, the remdesivir trial in China was suspended.
“Once the pandemic calmed down, they didn’t have enough patients to draw a firm conclusion,” said Gibson. “What they did see is the same trend in better outcomes with earlier treatments. Both studies say, earlier is better.”
When it comes to how quickly a coronavirus patient can recover while on the drug, Gibson says the study with the 1,100 people showed similar results of 15 days, down to 11 days. Also, it’s way too early to tell if there are after-effects.
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