Gilead's remdesivir reduces COVID-19 mortality risk- data

FILE PHOTO: Remdesivir, a drug used in the treatment of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is seen at Eva Pharma facility in Cairo, Egypt June 1, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

(Reuters) - Gilead Sciences Inc said an analysis showed its antiviral remdesivir reduced mortality rates in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and increased the likelihood of being discharged by day 28 after a five-day course of the treatment.

The drugmaker said on Monday it analyzed data from 98,654 patients from three retrospective studies of the real-world treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Remdesivir achieved statistically significant 54% and 23% reduction in risk of mortality among the analyzed patients in two of the studies, the company said. The data was presented at the World Microbe Forum (WMF) this week.

Gilead said the results were consistently observed at different timeframes over the course of the pandemic and across geographies.

Remdesivir has been approved for emergency use in severely-ill patients in the United States, India and South Korea, and has received full approval in Japan.

(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

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