According to a story from The Intercept, Gilead Sciences’ drug remdesivir is being touted in the media as a major development in the treatment of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. However, despite excitement from politicians, the media, and investors, there is little chance that the drug will be able to play a decisive role in halting the pandemic, and certain generic drugs may actually be more effective.
Remdesivir: The Key to Beating COVID-19?
The excitement surrounding the drug is based on the results of a study (found here) which indicated that treatment with remdesivir was able to allow patients to recover more quickly. Patients using it recovered in an average of 11 days compared to 15 days using placebo. While this finding is encouraging, the effect as a whole is still quite limited; after all, the medication was not helpful for the most gravely ill patients and it failed to improve overall survival rate. Meanwhile, a study from China (found here) found that the medication did not have an impact on the viral load, which is the quantity of virus found in a given sample of body fluid.
A Rush for Treatment
Federal officials have continued to be optimistic about remdesivir, and supplies of the drug are already getting scarce as states and hospitals clamor to get their hands on it. In this atmosphere of extreme scarcity, Gilead will have full leeway on pricing the drug, which is expected to be hundreds of times the cost of manufacture (a ten day supply can be made for only $10). Another cause for concern is that the medication could have negative impacts on the kidneys and liver, but the longer term study to evaluate these effects was called off so that patients could be treated more quickly.
A Less Lucrative Yet More Effective Alternative
Behind the scenes a three drug combination of ribavarin, interferon beta-1b, and lopinavir-ritonavir appears to have a similar level of effectiveness and may in fact bring about recovery at a quicker pace on average (read more about it here). Additionally, this combination appears capable of bringing down the viral load. Remarkably, this approach isn’t getting much media attention; all of these drugs are generics, meaning that no single company stands to profit massively from their use.
It isn’t difficult to latch on to a specific medication touted in the media as our best hope for helping combat the virus, but scientific data needs to be the primary basis for the implementation of a treatment. Unfortunately, it doesn’t necessarily look like that is happening.
