Remdesivir for 5 or 10 Days in Patients with Severe Covid-19

N Engl J Med. 2020 Nov 5;383(19):1827-1837. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2015301. Epub 2020 May 27.

Abstract

Background: Remdesivir is an RNA polymerase inhibitor with potent antiviral activity in vitro and efficacy in animal models of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Methods: We conducted a randomized, open-label, phase 3 trial involving hospitalized patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, oxygen saturation of 94% or less while they were breathing ambient air, and radiologic evidence of pneumonia. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive intravenous remdesivir for either 5 days or 10 days. All patients received 200 mg of remdesivir on day 1 and 100 mg once daily on subsequent days. The primary end point was clinical status on day 14, assessed on a 7-point ordinal scale.

Results: In total, 397 patients underwent randomization and began treatment (200 patients for 5 days and 197 for 10 days). The median duration of treatment was 5 days (interquartile range, 5 to 5) in the 5-day group and 9 days (interquartile range, 5 to 10) in the 10-day group. At baseline, patients randomly assigned to the 10-day group had significantly worse clinical status than those assigned to the 5-day group (P = 0.02). By day 14, a clinical improvement of 2 points or more on the ordinal scale occurred in 64% of patients in the 5-day group and in 54% in the 10-day group. After adjustment for baseline clinical status, patients in the 10-day group had a distribution in clinical status at day 14 that was similar to that among patients in the 5-day group (P = 0.14). The most common adverse events were nausea (9% of patients), worsening respiratory failure (8%), elevated alanine aminotransferase level (7%), and constipation (7%).

Conclusions: In patients with severe Covid-19 not requiring mechanical ventilation, our trial did not show a significant difference between a 5-day course and a 10-day course of remdesivir. With no placebo control, however, the magnitude of benefit cannot be determined. (Funded by Gilead Sciences; GS-US-540-5773 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04292899.).

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial, Phase III
  • Comparative Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenosine Monophosphate / administration & dosage
  • Adenosine Monophosphate / adverse effects
  • Adenosine Monophosphate / analogs & derivatives*
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Alanine / administration & dosage
  • Alanine / adverse effects
  • Alanine / analogs & derivatives*
  • Antiviral Agents / administration & dosage*
  • Antiviral Agents / adverse effects
  • Betacoronavirus
  • COVID-19
  • COVID-19 Drug Treatment
  • Coronavirus Infections / drug therapy*
  • Coronavirus Infections / mortality
  • Coronavirus Infections / therapy
  • Drug Administration Schedule
  • Female
  • Hospitalization
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Oxygen Inhalation Therapy
  • Pandemics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / drug therapy*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / mortality
  • Pneumonia, Viral / therapy
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Antiviral Agents
  • remdesivir
  • Adenosine Monophosphate
  • Alanine

Associated data

  • ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT04292899