Repurposed Antiviral Drugs Could Set a New 'Standard of Care' for COVID-19 Treatments Says Dr. Anthony Fauci

Financialnewsmedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Florida, May 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- America's public-private sector collaboration on the global health crisis appears to have borne fruit… very quickly. The government has streamlined regulations and the public sector has responded with unheard of speed. On April 29 White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said that data from a coronavirus drug trial testing Gilead Sciences' antiviral drug remdesivir showed "quite good news" and sets a new standard of care for Covid-19 patients. Speaking to reporters from the White House, Fauci said he was told data from the trial showed a "clear-cut positive effect in diminishing time to recover." Said a report on CNBC.  Fauci said the median time of recovery for patients taking the drug was 11 days, compared with 15 days in the placebo group. He said the mortality benefit of remdesivir "has not yet reached statistical significance." The results suggested a survival benefit, with a mortality rate of 8% for the group receiving remdesivir versus 11.6% for the placebo group, according to a statement from the National Institutes of Health released later Wednesday.  Active healthcare stocks in news today include:  BioSig Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: BSGM), Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD), CytoDyn Inc. (OTCQB: CYDY), AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN), Mesoblast Limited (NASDAQ: MESO).

"This will be the standard of care," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, added. "When you know a drug works, you have to let people in the placebo group know so they can take it… What it has proven is a drug can block this virus," he said.  U.S. health officials are expected to release the full results of a drug trial conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases later Wednesday. Gilead Sciences announced earlier in the day that the study had met its primary endpoint but did not provide further details.

The FDA, in the meantime, has been in "sustained and ongoing" discussions with Gilead to make remdesivir available to Covid-19 patients "as quickly as possible, as appropriate," said FDA senior advisor Michael Felberbaum.

BioSig Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:BSGM) BREAKING NEWS - ViralClear Submits In Vitro Data on Merimepodib and Remdesivir Synergistic Activity Against the COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus to a Peer-Reviewed Journal  - BioSig Technologies, this week announced that an article titled, "The IMPDH inhibitor merimepodib provided in combination with the adenosine analogue remdesivir reduces SARS-CoV-2 replication to undetectable levels in vitro", was submitted to an online peer-reviewed life sciences journal.