(27 May 2020) Remdesivir- no significant difference between a 5-day and a 10-day course

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

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2015301?query=featured_home

In a randomized, open-label, phase 3 trial (NCT04292899)involving hospitalized patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. 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.  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). In patients with severe Covid-19 not requiring mechanical ventilation, the 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.