COVID-19 patients recovering quickly after getting remdesivir, an experimental drug

COVID-19 patients, who are being administered an experimental drug called remdesivir, have been recovering quickly, with most going home in days or a few weeks.

There is no approved therapy for COVID-19, which can cause severe pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome in some patients. But the National Institutes of Health has been organising trials of several drugs and other treatments, among them remdesivir.

The patients taking part in a clinical trial of the remdesivir drug have all had severe respiratory symptoms and fever. They were able to leave the hospital after less than a week of treatment, STAT news quoted the doctor leading the trial as saying, on Thursday.

According to CNN, the drug, made by Gilead Sciences, was tested against Ebola with little success, but multiple studies in animals showed the drug could both prevent and treat coronaviruses related to COVID-19, including SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome).

The World Health Organisation had also, in February, said remdesivir showed potential against coronavirus.