Coronavirus: Gilead's Remdesivir Flunks First Test, Report Says

FOSTER CITY, CA — The hope that medical science could help end the new coronavirus outbreak was just dealt a major setback.

That’s according to a BBC report that says an experimental COVID-19 drug developed by a Peninsula biotech firm widely viewed as the most promising potential treatment for the coronavirus failed its first randomized clinical trial.

Remdesivir, an antiviral drug developed by Foster City-based Gilead Sciences as a treatment for Ebola in 2014, is being repurposed as a potential COVID-19 treatment.

But results of the trial administered in China inadvertently leaked by the World Health Organization (WHO) Thursday indicate remdesivir “did not improve patients' condition or reduce the pathogen's presence in the bloodstream,” BBC reports, citing WHO draft documents.

“A draft manuscript was provided by the authors to WHO and inadvertently posted on the website and taken down as soon as the mistake was noticed. The manuscript is now undergoing peer review and we are waiting for a final version before WHO comments on it,” said WHO spokesperson Daniela Bagozzi, according to a report in STAT News that includes a screenshot of the document since removed by WHO.

Gilead spokesperson Amy Flood told STAT News the biotech disputes WHO's findings, noting “the post included inappropriate characterization of the study.” She cited thin enrollment and early termination of the study that make it impossible to draw “meaningful conclusions.”

Flood added that “trends in the data suggest a potential benefit for remdesivir, particularly among patients treated early in disease.”

The news that remdesivir didn’t improve patient outcomes in the China study is nevertheless the second blow in three days to scientists frantically seeking a safe and effective treatment for COVID-19 as the coronavirus stalks the world virtually unabated.

Two days earlier, it was shown that hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug heralded by President Donald Trump as a potential COVID-19 treatment, failed to improve patient outcomes in a large study administered at U.S. veterans hospitals, The Associated Press reports.

Remdesivir isn’t a cure and hasn't been represented as such, but the antiviral has been in the spotlight since February, when Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organization said it offered the best hope for treating COVID-19.

"There's only one drug right now that we think may have real efficacy," Aylward said. "And that's remdesivir."

Full coronavirus coverage: California Coronavirus: Latest Updates On Cases, Orders, Closures

Remdesivir has been used in clinical tests on animals with encouraging results treating Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), both of which are caused by other coronaviruses.

University of Nebraska is leading a randomized, controlled clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of remdesivir.

Dr. Angela Hewlett, the medical director of the bio-containment unit at University of Nebraska that’s conducting the study, said in an interview with 60 Minutes that remdesivir doesn't attack the virus itself, but rather obstructs its ability to reproduce.

"It inhibits replication of the virus, and so when a virus would normally try to reproduce itself, this drug inserts itself into that process and then stops viral replication, and so it stops reproduction of the virus," Hewlett said.

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