Remdesivir Cuts Risk of Mortality, Hospital Readmission in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

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Respiratory.ventilation
The studies evaluated routine clinical practice data from more than 800 hospitals in the US.

Treatment with remdesivir (Veklury®) within the first 2 days of hospital admission was associated with reduced mortality and hospital readmission rates among hospitalized COVID-19 patients, according to data from 3 retrospective real-world studies. 

The studies evaluated routine clinical practice data from more than 800 hospitals in the US. An overall analysis of 2 studies that included more than 500,000 adults hospitalized with COVID-19 showed that initiation of remdesivir in patients with no documented use of supplemental oxygen at baseline resulted in a 19% lower risk for mortality at day 28 compared with matched controls (P <.001).

For patients on low flow or high flow oxygen, remdesivir treatment was associated with a 21% (P <.001) and 12% (P <.001) lower risk for mortality at day 28, respectively, vs control. Among patients on invasive mechanical ventilation/ECMO at baseline, there was a 26% lower risk for mortality at day 28 with remdesivir compared with control (P <.001).

Findings also showed that initiation of remdesivir led to reduced mortality among immunocompromised patients hospitalized with COVID-19. There was an overall 25% lower risk for mortality in this patient population when remdesivir was initiated within 2 days of hospital admission, compared with no remdesivir, across all variant time periods (pre-Delta [35%], Delta [21%], Omicron [16%]).

“Early treatment with remdesivir led to better patient outcomes regardless of the predominant circulating variant of concern,” said Chidinma Chima-Melton, study author and pulmonologist at UCLA Health, California, USA. “We see this risk reduction consistently across all oxygen levels and disease severity, including in immunocompromised patients. This is indeed a paradigm shift in the way we think about treating our most vulnerable patients.”

In a separate analysis, initiation of remdesivir in hospitalized COVID-19 patients was associated with a 27% lower risk of hospital readmission within 30 days to the same hospital. This finding was consistent across all variant time periods and was also observed in patients who had higher supplemental oxygen requirements during initial hospitalization.

Reference

Veklury® (remdesivir) reduced risk of mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients across all variant time periods in a real world study of more than 500,000 hospitalized patients. News release. Gilead Sciences, Inc. Accessed February 22, 2023. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230217005363/en/Veklury%C2%AE-Remdesivir-Reduced-Risk-of-Mortality-in-Hospitalized-COVID-19-Patients-Across-all-Variant-Time-Periods-in-a-Real-World-Study-of-More-than-500000-Hospitalized-Patients.