Significant progress in Nature! Remdesivir is effective for rhesus monkeys infected with SARS-CoV-2!

COVID-19 continues to ravage the world, and there is an urgent need for effective drugs to treat COVID-19. Although many drugs for research, approval, and reuse have been proposed, preclinical data from animal models can rule out treatments that have no in vivo efficacy, thereby guiding the search for effective treatments.

Remdesivir (Remdesivir, GS-5734) is a nucleotide mimetic prodrug with extensive antiviral activity. It is currently being studied in COVID-19 clinical trials and has recently received emergency approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. Use authorization. In animal models, remdesivir treatment is effective against MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV infections. In in vitro experiments, Remdesivir inhibited the replication of SARS-CoV-2.

　　Recently, researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health studied the efficacy of Remdesivir in the treatment of rhesus monkey SARS-CoV-2 infection model. The relevant research results were recently published in Nature, entitled " Clinical benefit of remdesivir in rhesus macaques infected with SARS-CoV-2".

　　The researchers found that, compared with blank-treated animals, 12 hours after the first dose, the animals treated with Redecivir showed no signs of respiratory disease. X-rays showed reduced lung infiltration and bronchoalveolar perfusion. The titer of the virus decreases during washing. However, remdesivir treatment did not reduce viral shedding in the upper respiratory tract.

　　An autopsy after the sacrifice of the animals found that the lung virus load of the animals treated with Remdesivir was lower and the lung damage was also reduced. Therefore, starting remdesivir treatment in the early stage of infection has a clinical effect on rhesus monkeys infected with SARS-CoV-2.

　　Although the rhesus monkey model cannot fully represent the severe disease observed in COVID-19 patients, the researchers believe that their data supports the early initiation of remdesivir treatment in COVID-19 patients to prevent the progression of pneumonia. (Bioon.com)

Reference materials:

　　Williamson, BN, Feldmann, F., Schwarz, B. et al. Clinical benefit of remdesivir in rhesus macaques infected with SARS-CoV-2. Nature (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020- 2423-5

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