In my March 22 blog post, describing each of the drugs the Chinese had been using to treat COVID-19, I mentioned the agent remsdesivir, which works by acting as a nucleotide analog of adenosine (remember the 4 letters of the language of God: ATGC https://www.amazon.com/Language-God-Scientist-Presents-Evidence/dp/1416542744/ref=sr_1_1?crid=149QA07AXVVM1&keywords=the+language+of+god&qid=1584884234&sprefix=the+langua%2Caps%2C179&sr=8-1), taken up into the new RNA being made by the virus which can not then be translated and direct the manufacture of new virus proteins, a slick little chemical vascectomy for Mr. Corona. In the lab, it’s been shown to suppress the replication of a number of RNA viruses, including the coronaviruses responsible for SARS and MERS. In late January 2020, remdesivir was administered to the first US patient to be confirmed to be infected by SARS-CoV-2, in Snohomish County, Washington, for “compassionate use” after he progressed to pneumonia. He was cured.
Well now in my own old medical school on the south side of Chicago (class of ’79), for which I never tire of showing its awesome crest
they’re deep into a trial comparing a 5-day course with a 10-day course of this drug in COVID-19 infected patients. The U of C is only one of several cooperating centers, but chose to talk about preliminary results Thursday https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/16/early-peek-at-data-on-gilead-coronavirus-drug-suggests-patients-are-responding-to-treatment/. They’ve enrolled 128 patients so far, only two have died, fever goes down rapidly and patients get out of hospital in about 6 days. The drug was developed to treat Ebola. Maybe it’ll save us from the COVID-19 that’s still hanging around
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