Hundreds of patients taking experimental drug remdesivir have recovered from the coronavirus.<br /><br />The anti-viral medication – initially designed to combat Ebola – is being tested across the world in the fight against Covid-19, and is part of the World Health Organisation’s Solidarity Trial.<br />Doctors at The University of Chicago Medicine have recently recorded incredible results.<br /><br />Nearly all patients with fever and respiratory issues were discharged in just days after taking part in the study.<br /><br />The university recruited 125 patients into Gilead Science’s two Phase 3 clinical trials.<br /><br />113 of them were discharged from hospital and two died.<br /><br />Dr Kathleen Mullane, the infectious disease expert who is leading the trial, said: "The best news is that most of our patients have already been discharged, which is great.<br /><br />“We've only had two patients perish.<br /><br />“Most of our patients are severe and most of them are leaving at six days, so that tells us the duration of therapy doesn’t have to be 10 days.<br /><br />“We have very few that went out to 10 days, maybe three."<br />But she added ”the totality of the data needs to be analysed in order to draw any conclusions from the trial”.<br /><br />Dr Mullan’s comments were made this week during a video call about the results with other University of Chicago members.<br /><br />The conversation was recorded and STAT News obtained a copy of the footage.<br /><br />Gilead said in a statement: ”What we can say at this stage is that we look forward to data from ongoing studies becoming available."<br /><br />Last month, US President Donald Trump touted remdesvir’s potential, saying it “seems to have a very good result”.<br />Anti-arthritis drug Tocilizumab, currently being trialled in the UK, has also seemingly cured a raft of Covid-19 patients in China and Italy.<br />It is also referred to as Actemra and produced by the Swiss pharmaceutical firm Roche.<br /><br />During a groundbreaking study in China in February, it reportedly helped 90% of coronavirus patients recover .<br /><br />Hospitals in Italy have also enjoyed success with the drug , with dozens of patients witnessing improvements and some even being discharged.
