Antiviral drug remdesivir should not be used to treat Covid patients, warns WHO
Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday warned that the antiviral drug remdesivir should not be used to treat Covid-19 patients no matter how ill they are as there is no evidence it works.
"The panel found a lack of evidence that remdesivir improved outcomes that matter to patients such as reduced mortality, need for mechanical ventilation, time to clinical improvement, and others," Xinhua news agency quoted the WHO's Guideline Development Group (GDG) panel ass aying in a sattement .
"Any beneficial effects of remdesivir, if they do exist, are likely to be small and the possibility of important harm remains," the panel added.
The WHO recommendation, published in the British Medical Journal, was based on an evidence review that included data from four international randomised trials among more than 7,000 hospitalised patients.
After reviewing the evidence, the panel concluded that remdesivir has no meaningful effect on death rates or other important outcomes for patients.
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