Gilead Sciences has shared positive new data from three real-world retrospective studies that further support the use of its COVID-19 treatment, Veklury (remdesivir), for people who have been hospitalised with the virus.
The results were recently presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, which was held from 3 to 6 March 2024.
When looking to understand Veklury’s possible impact on the risk of long COVID, Gilead analysed 52,006 patients’ data from HealthVerity and found that the treatment was associated with a 10% reduced risk of long COVID in all analysed age groups.
Similarly, data from a separate analysis involving the PINC AI Healthcare database identified an association between Veklury use and reduced mortality in 10,687 immunocompromised patients who were hospitalised for COVID-19, revealing an overall 25% reduction in mortality risk in those treated with Veklury compared to the 4,989 patients in the non-Veklury group.
A real-world study involving over 66,000 COVID-19 patients also showed improved outcomes among those who received Veklury in combination with dexamethasone, a glucocorticoid medication, compared to dexamethasone alone.
A total of 33,037 patients who received the dual therapy had a significantly lower mortality risk compared to dexamethasone monotherapy across all supplemental oxygen requirements at both 14 and 28 days, while patients with no documented use of supplemental oxygen at baseline treated with Veklury were associated with a 20% lower mortality risk by day 28.
The new data builds on existing supporting evidence of Veklury and “[reinforces] the strong efficacy and safety profile” of the treatment, as well as its “potential role in reducing mortality… and helping to reduce the risk of getting long COVID symptoms,” said Frank Duff, senior vice president, virology therapeutic area head at Gilead.
Already approved in more than 50 countries globally, Veklury works by stopping SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, from replicating and spreading in the body.
In September last year, Gilead’s Veklury was recommended by the European Medicines Agency’s human medicines committee for use in patients with mild-to-severe hepatic impairment, an alcohol-related liver disease.
If approved, the treatment will become the first authorised antiviral COVID-19 treatment to be used across all stages of liver disease.