Remdesivir Reduces Mortality in Some Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

Remdesivir (RDV) treatment in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 has evolved. The injectable therapy was given a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization in May 2020 to aid hospitals when they were badly in need of therapies. And almost a year ago, the FDA approved it for adults and children 12 and older who required hospitalization.

Since then, multiple studies have been conducted on the therapy and have come back with varying results. And it its latest study examining hospitalized COVID-19 patients, the timing of the delivery of the therapy and disease severity played roles in reducing mortality.

In a new large study presented virtually at the 2021IDWeek, patients hospitalized with COVID-19 that were either not on oxygen or on low-flow oxygen and treated with remdesivir saw a significant reduction in mortality vs. those patients either not on oxygen or on low-flow oxygen who were not treated with remdesivir.

With the use of the Premier Healthcare database, the investigators compared survival for hospitalized COVID-19 adults who were not mechanically ventilated between August-November 2020 and who were either treated with RDV within 2 days of hospitalization or those who did not receive RDV.

“Mortality in RDV patients was 9.6% and 13.8% on days 14 and 28, respectively,” the investigators reported. “For non-RDV patients, mortality was 14.0% and 17.3% on days 14 and 28, respectively.”

In addition, there was some mortality reduction in patients on high-flow oxygen.

“Mortality reduction was also seen in patients on high-flow O2 at day 14, but not day 28,” the investigators wrote. “These data support the use of RDV early in the course of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.”

The study, “Remdesivir Treatment in Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19: A Comparative Analysis of In-Hospital All-Cause Mortality,” was presented virtually at IDWeek 2021, held September 29-October 3, 2021.