Here's an article that is informative about Remdesivir, although it is a more than a month old. I'll see if they have an update.
Hopes rise over experimental drug's effectiveness against coronavirus
Wow this is today.
Stocks jump as US drugmaker Gilead raises hopes of Covid-19 treatment - business live
More details about the Gilead Sciences trial that is boosting stock markets,
from my colleague Rob Davies.
Optimism surrounding a potential new treatment for Covid-19 has boosted the FTSE100 stock index, amid claims that a
drug called remdesivir has spurred rapid recovery in 113 patients.
A University of
Chicago hospital participating in a study of the antiviral medication, made by US firm Gilead Sciences, reportedly found that nearly all patients suffering fever and respiratory symptoms were discharged within a week. The report, by healthcare publication Stat News, spurred hopes among investors that lockdowns around the world could be eased.
The University of Chicago recruited 125 people into a clinical trial, according to the report, 113 of whom tested positive for Covid-19, with all of them receiving daily remdesivir doses. Two patients died but most of the rest have already been discharged after their symptoms eased significantly.
In a video obtained by Stat News, Kathleen Mullane, the infectious disease specialist overseeing the study, said it was hard to draw conclusions because remdesivir is not being compared against results from a group taking a placebo drug.
But certainly when we start [the] drug, we see fever curves falling.
We have seen people come off ventilators a day after starting therapy. So, in that realm, overall our patients have done very well.
Most of our patients are severe and most of them are leaving at six days, so that tells us duration of therapy doesn’t have to be 10 days. We have very few that went out to 10 days, maybe three.
You can read the full story here:
FTSE 100 boosted amid optimism over potential coronavirus drug
Read more
This is even more interesting. A Chinese drug company copying the API of Remdesivir two months ago (12th Feb 2020) before WHO had even declared it a pandemic.
Coronavirus: China's BrightGene Manufactures APIs of Gilead's Remdesivir
Chinese drug developer BrightGene Bio-Medical Technology Co., said it has successfully manufactured the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) of remdesivir (GS-5734), the Gilead Sciences antiviral candidate being tested in China human clinical trials as a treatment for 2019-nCoV novel coronavirus. [BrightGene Bio-Medical Technology]
A publicly traded Chinese drug developer, BrightGene Bio-Medical Technology Co., said today it has successfully manufactured the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) of remdesivir (GS-5734), the Gilead Science antiviral candidate being tested in China human clinical trials as a treatment for the 2019-nCoV novel coronavirus.
“[BrightGene] actively responded to the national call to fight the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic, and recently successfully developed and synthesized the technology and preparations for the drug synthesis of [remdesivir] technology,” the company stated today.
“The company successfully imitated the development and production of [remdesivir] APIs by virtue of its technical accumulation in the development of high-end APIs and special injections,” BrightGene added in its
statement, issued through the Shanghai Stock Exchange. “The company has produced [remdesivir] bulk drugs, and the batch production of Remdesivir preparations is in progress.”
BrightGene acknowledged that its marketing of remdesivir “still needs to be authorized” by Gilead, adding, “There are many uncertainties in this process, such as drug approval.” BrightGene did not discuss in its statement what if any efforts the company has undertaken to pursue authorization from Gilead for the imitation product: “If the product can be approved for marketing, it will be supplied to relevant patients mainly through donations during the epidemic.”
“Therefore, considering production costs, pricing, sales volume and other considerations, this product is not expected to have a significant impact on the company’s operating performance in 2020,” BrightGene’s statement continued.
Shares of BrightGene closed 20% higher today on the news, rising to RMB 52.12 ($7.48) a share. The company has a market cap of RMB 21.369 billion (about $3.1 billion), according to Bloomberg.
BrightGene’s acknowledgement was the company’s second statement in recent weeks related to coronavirus. On January 28, BrightGene and its Founder and Executive Chairman Jiandong “J. D.” Yuan each donated RMB 1 million ($143,426) to the Wuhan Red Cross toward “urgently needed medical material procurement and personnel material protection.”
“The epidemic is a common enemy,” BrightGene
stated, adding that the company “has always been with the people of the whole country, especially the people in Wuhan, where the epidemic situation is most severe, to overcome the difficulties.”
More at link.