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FDA approves remdesivir as first COVID treatment

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first treatment for COVID-19.  The drug remdesivir, now named Veklury by Gilead Sciences,  received approval on Thursday.  Veklury is an antiviral drug for use in adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older and weighing at least 40 kilograms (about 88 pounds) for the treatment of COVID-19 requiring hospitalization. Veklury should only be administered in a hospital or in a healthcare setting capable of providing acute care comparable to inpatient hospital care.

This approval does not include the entire population that had been authorized to use Veklury under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) originally issued on May 1, 2020. In order to ensure continued access to the pediatric population previously covered under the EUA, the FDA revised the EUA for Veklury to authorize the drug’s use for treatment of suspected or laboratory confirmed COVID-19 in hospitalized pediatric patients weighing 3.5 kg to less than 40 kg or hospitalized pediatric patients less than 12 years of age weighing at least 3.5 kg. Clinical trials assessing the safety and efficacy of Veklury in this pediatric patient population are ongoing.

The approval follows the World Health Organization’s findings in its Solidary Trial that remdesivir had little to no effect on overall mortality.  However, in Hawaii, Queen’s Health Systems CEO Dr. Jill Hoggard Green has touted remdesivir, along with the steroid dexamethasone, as helping keep seriously ill, hospitalized patients alive who might otherwise have died of COVID-19.  Both remdesivir and dexamethasone were part of the treatment that U.S. President Donald Trump received.

“The FDA is committed to expediting the development and availability of COVID-19 treatments during this unprecedented public health emergency,” said FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D. “Today’s approval is supported by data from multiple clinical trials that the agency has rigorously assessed and represents an important scientific milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the FDA’s Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program, the agency will to continue to help move new medical products to patients as soon as possible, while at the same time determining whether they are effective and if their benefits outweigh their risks.”

Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, approval of a new drug product requires substantial evidence of effectiveness and a demonstration of safety for the drug’s intended use(s). In considering approval of a drug, the FDA conducts a benefit-risk assessment based on rigorous scientific standards to ensure that the product’s benefits outweigh its risks for the intended population.

The approval of Veklury was supported by the agency’s analysis of data from three randomized, controlled clinical trials that included patients hospitalized with mild-to-severe COVID-19.

Click here for the FDA approval document.

Click here for additional information from Velkury’s maker, Gilead Sciences.

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