BY: CLAIRE KIM
This past week, news of a possible cure for the coronavirus has risen excitement and skepticism from the public regarding its true effectiveness. Called remdesivir, this antiviral medication was developed by the American biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, previously purposed as a cure for the Ebola virus in 2014. They have been conducting clinical trials under a partnership with the University Chicago’s Department of medicine and as of right now, promising results are of much anticipation.
To ensure the usage of the drug, the University of Chicago Medicine has conducted two Gilead clinical trials, testing cases from those severe and moderate, totaling up to around 2,400 cases. Directly involved with the COVID-19, the University of Chicago Medicine has been giving daily doses of the remdesivir to 125 patients who have been affected with the coronavirus.
According to several health professionals and research groups, the use of remdesivir has been showing positive effects as many patients have been discharged since its usage. But, despite such data, it’s important that we slowly examine the totality of the drug’s effectiveness before housing it as the “magical” cure against the coronavirus.
Hopefully, our long-awaited hopes of a cure to COVID-19 can be salvaged with the introduction of remdesivir as a possible post-infection treatment.
claire kim. 