Remdesivir for 10-day in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is associated with lower 28-day all-cause mortality

Objectives:
To date, there is no definite effective treatment for the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this review article has been conducted.

What is the effective treatment for the COVID-19 patients?

Study design:
This review article included 25 RCTs (which compared the effect of any pharmacological drugs versus standard care or placebo 28-day after hospitalization in adult patients with COVID-19 disease), evaluating 17 different treatments and 11,597 participants.

The mean ages ranging from 29.7 to 70 years, 7,363 (62.3%) were men. They were followed for 6 to 28 days.
Comorbidities were present in 4,579 (39.0%) patients, the most common being diabetes (2,818; 24.0%) and hypertension (1,761; 15.0%).

Results and conclusions:   
The investigators found remdesivir for 10-day compared to standard care [RR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.48 to 0.99] and a low dose compared to a high dose of hydroxychloroquine [RR = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.17 to 0.89] were significantly associated with a lower risk of death.

The investigators found a total of 2,766 patients experienced clinical improvement, a 5-day course of remdesivir was significantly associated with a higher frequency of clinical improvement compared to standard care [RR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.00 to 1.47].

The investigators found compared to standard care, remdesivir for both 5 and 10 days, lopinavir/ritonavir and dexamethasone significantly reduced the risk of any severe adverse events (AEs) by 52% [RR = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.34 to 0.67], 24% [RR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.63 to 0.92], 40% [RR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.37 to 0.98] and 50% [RR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.25 to 0.98]. respectively.

The investigators concluded administration of remdesivir for 10-day in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is associated with lower 28-day all-cause mortality and serious adverse events and higher clinical improvement rate.

Original title:
An updated systematic review and network meta-analysis of 25 randomized trials assessing the efficacy and safety of treatments in COVID-19 disease by Diallo A, Carlos-Bolumbu M, […], Jedrecy C.

Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7883016/

Additional information of El Mondo:
Find more information/studies on corona virus right here.

Remdesivir is an antiviral medication that targets a range of viruses. It was originally developed over a decade ago to treat hepatitis C and a cold-like virus called respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).