Remdesivir reduces hospital stay, doesn't show benefit in mortality: AIIMS

AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria explained the ways in which Covid-19 patients are being treated

Remdesivir helps decrease hospital stay but the benefits don't reflect as far as death or mortality is concerned, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi Director Dr Randeep Guleria said on Friday.

"There is no definite anti-viral drug which has been proved as far as Covid-19 is concerned. A lot of research is going on. There are some anti-viral drugs which are being used, one of them is 'Remdesivir' that is being made by a company from the US. Data suggests that it helps to decrease hospital stay but it doesn't show benefit as far as death or mortality benefit is concerned. So we need more data to suggest that these drugs are useful or not," said Dr Guleria in an interview to ANI.

"Remdesivir is used as per the guidelines of emergency use authorisation. There is also very limited stock available. I am hopeful that in coming weeks we have larger doses of it," he added.

Dr Guleria explained about the ways in which Covid-19 patients are being treated. He said that hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is the commonly used drugs to treat the patients.

"Repurposed drugs are available in the market and studies, too, have suggested that they may have anti-viral activities and therefore they can be used. The drug which we use commonly for treating coronavirus patients is hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). There are controversies regarding the drug but data suggests that it may be useful especially in the early days," he said.

He further spoke about the convalescent plasma therapy in which we give plasma having antibodies from the people who have recovered to the affected patient so that these antibodies help in fighting against the virus.

"These are still evolving treatments and some may be useful and some may not be that useful. But treatment currently remains supportive care oxygenation. As many as 90 to 95 per cent patients with good supportive care oxygenation actually recovery and become alright," he added.