Remdesivir beneficial if used at the right time: K’taka experts

BENGALURU: Although the World Health Organisation recently advised against the use of remdesivir for the treatment of Covid-19 patients regardless of how ill they are, medical experts in Karnataka maintain that in their experience, the drug is beneficial and has high recovery rates across the state.“In pandemics such as this, we will have to go by our own data and the experiences of our pulmonologists and physicians. We have found very good recovery rates when the drug was administered at the right time,” said Dr C N Manjunath, director of Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology and member of the state’s Covid Taskforce. 

Released on November 20, WHO’s recommendation is part of a set of living guidelines on clinical care for Covid-19. It was developed by a global group comprising 28 clinical care experts, four patient partners, and an ethicist. The guidelines are an innovation that match scientific standards with the speed required to respond to an ongoing pandemic.

“WHO’s recommendation was based on the Solidarity Trial’s interim results. We did have a discussion regarding this among the experts on the State’s expert committee. Our experts are of the opinion that remdesivir has been one of the very few antiviral drugs which has played a role in recoveries, especially when given at early and moderate phases of Covid 19,” Dr Nagaraja C, director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, and a member of the State’s Covid Taskforce.

Dr Sacchidananda, Vice Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, agrees. “Our experts’ opinions are different. Remdesivir has worked very well with our patients’ recovery and early response. It has prevented progression from mild to moderate, and moderate to severe illness, when instituted at the right time,” he said.

Head of the department of medicine at Dr TMA Pai Hospital in Udupi, Dr Shashikiran Umakanth, also held similar views. “Our experience is that remdesivir is useful and hastens recovery when used at the right time - that is, early in (the course of the) disease, as soon as the patient starts requiring oxygen. If used after the patient has developed further complications, it may be futile. However, this is information is based on our clinical observation and not on a controlled research study.”