Remdesivir, an antiviral drug designed to treat both hepatitis and a common respiratory virus, seemed fated to join thousands of other failed medications after proving useless against those diseases. The drug was consigned to the pharmaceutical scrap heap, all but forgotten by the scientists who once
But Friday, the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency approval for remdesivir as a treatment for patients severely ill with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Neither he nor the scores of other scientists interested in coronaviruses foresaw that a new one would unleash a plague that has killed nearly a quarter-million people worldwide. The FDA rushed to approve remdesivir under emergency use provisions after a federal trial demonstrated modest improvements in severely ill patients.
“It’s a great first step,” said Dr. Robert Finberg, chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In 2007, Denison discovered that coronaviruses have a powerful “proofreading” system. If an error occurs in copying RNA as the coronavirus replicates, it corrects the error. In lab experiments, coronaviruses that mutated were weaker, outcompeted by those without mutations.
Denison discovered remdesivir was just what they were seeking: a drug that slipped past the virus’s powerful system to protect RNA, their genetic material. Remdesivir made growing chains of the viral RNA terminate prematurely, killing the virus. As SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, began to grow into a pandemic, many scientists realized that remdesivir might be the best solution at hand. It had already undergone animal testing and safety testing in humans.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
FDA Issues Emergency Approval For Coronavirus Treatment DrugBREAKING: The Food and Drug Administration has approved the experimental drug remdesivir for treating coronavirus patients.
Read more »
FDA Issues Emergency Approval For Coronavirus Treatment DrugBREAKING: The Food and Drug Administration has approved the experimental drug remdesivir for treating coronavirus patients.
Read more »
FDA authorizes remdesivir drug as emergency treatment for COVID-19The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted authorization to Gilead Sciences Inc for emergency use of its experimental antiviral drug remdesivir to treat patients with COVID-19, it said in a letter to Gilead.
Read more »
FDA Has Approved Emergency Use Of Remdesivir To Treat COVID-19The approval comes days after the NIH announcement of preliminary results showing a four-day shortening of hospital stays after treatment with the drug.
Read more »