WHO Trial Finds Remdesivir Has 'No Meaningful Effect' In COVID-19 Patients

A once-promising treatment against COVID-19 has fallen out of favor with the World Health Organization.

On Thursday, a WHO review panel issued new guidelines recommending against the use of remdesivir for COVID-19 — even though the medicine is one of the few to win regulatory approval as a treatment for the disease.

After a clinical trial in April showed that remdesivir sped up the recovery of people with severe cases of the disease, the U.S. snapped up millions of vials of the drug from its manufacturer Gilead Sciences. Over the summer, European regulators rapidly signed off on the product, leading to nations around the world signing purchase agreements for the drug. And last month, the U.S. Food and Drug administration also signed off.

Now the WHO says remdesivir doesn't do much of anything to improve the health of people hospitalized with COVID-19.

The recommendations are based on the WHO's Solidarity Trial, which is examining several coronavirus treatments including remdesivir on more than 11,000 patients in 30 countries.