The results of a small study in a group of patients with severe Covid-19 given the antiviral, remdesivir, under a compassionate use program have just been reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. Given that the administration of the drug was done under a compassionate use paradigm, it lacked adequate controls as made clear in the paper. However, the results seem encouraging:
… improvement in oxygen-support status was observed in 68% of patients, and overall mortality was 13% over a median follow-up of 18 days. In a recent randomized, controlled trial of lopinavir–ritonavir in patients hospitalized for Covid-19, the 28-day mortality was 22%.10 It is important to note that only 1 of 199 patients in that trial were receiving invasive ventilation at baseline. In case series and cohort studies, largely from China, mortality rates of 17 to 78% have been reported in severe cases, defined by the need for admission to an intensive care unit, invasive ventilation, or both.23-28 For example, among 201 patients hospitalized in Wuhan, China, mortality was 22% overall and 66% (44 of 67) among patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation.7 By way of comparison, the 13% mortality observed in this remdesivir compassionate-use cohort is noteworthy, considering the severity of disease in this patient population; however, the patients enrolled in this compassionate-treatment program are not directly comparable to those studied in these other reports.
Keep in mind that this is just the scientific equivalent of a twinkling in the eye. Larger, well-controlled trials underway will provide more definitive data:
Interpretation of the results of this study is limited by the small size of the cohort, the relatively short duration of follow-up, potential missing data owing to the nature of the program, the lack of information on 8 of the patients initially treated, and the lack of a randomized control group. Although the latter precludes definitive conclusions, comparisons with contemporaneous cohorts from the literature, in whom general care is expected to be consistent with that of our cohort, suggest that remdesivir may have clinical benefit in patients with severe Covid-19. Nevertheless, other factors may have contributed to differences in outcomes, including the type of supportive care (e.g., concomitant medications or variations in ventilatory practices) and differences in institutional treatment protocols and thresholds for hospitalization. Moreover, the use of invasive ventilation as a proxy for disease severity may be influenced by the availability of ventilators in a given location. The findings from these uncontrolled data will be informed by the ongoing randomized, placebo-controlled trials of remdesivir therapy for Covid-19.