The study included 208 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Finland, 181 of whom completed the one-year follow-up survey. Of those, 98 were given remdesivir during hospitalization and 83 were not. The two groups reported similar outcomes: In each, about 1 in 6 respondents said they had not recovered well, and a quarter of them said they had substantial bother from fatigue. The results were published Oct. 18 in Nature.
The FDA approved Gilead’s treatment, which is sold under the brand name Veklury, in 2020. It is intended for COVID-19 patients who are at high risk for severe disease, and “are either hospitalized with COVID-19 or have mild-to-moderate COVID-19,” according to the drugmaker’s website.
With the small pool of study participants, the “confidence intervals are wide, including substantial benefit and harm,” meaning more trials are needed to determine the drug’s long-term efficacy, the researchers wrote.
The World Health Organization conditionally recommends remdesivir for non-severe and severe COVID-19 cases, but not for critical infections.
