The antiviral drug remdesivir had little effect in patients with moderate COVID-19 in 105 hospitals in the United States, Europe, and Asia in a randomized, controlled, open-label trial published late last week in JAMA, adding to a mixed picture of the drug in randomized clinical trials (RCTs), which are considered the gold standard for gauging interventions.Researchers compared the clinical status of 533 coronavirus patients who had moderate pneumonia and were randomly assigned to receive remdesivir for 5 or 10 days or standard care from Mar 15 to Apr 18.
Remdesivir was given in a 200-milligram (mg) intravenous dose on the first day, followed by 100 mg a day.After 11 days of treatment, patients in the group receiving remdesivir for 5 days