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Global Trials Soon to Test Potential Coronavirus Treatment

Natalie Liu

   WASHINGTON - A U.S. biomedical firm has announced it will begin
   additional clinical trials of remdesivir, so far the most promising
   potential drug for coronavirus, with clinical trials involving about
   1,000 patients starting in March.

   In a sign that the drug, invented by California-based Gilead Sciences,
   is gaining traction, a trial involving about 400 patients "with severe
   clinical manifestations of COVID-19" will skip the placebo step and
   instead enroll all of them in remdesivir treatment, with either five or
   10 days on the drug.

   Meanwhile roughly 600 patients "with moderate clinical manifestations
   of disease," according to a Gilead statement, will be divided into
   three groups, with one-third receiving five days of remdesivir
   treatment, one-third receiving 10 days of treatment, and the remainder
   receiving "standard care alone," which could include medicine for pain
   and fever, fluids, and oxygen, if needed.

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