Shorter Course of Remdesivir In Moderate Covid-19 is as Efficacious as Compared to Standard Regime: An Observational Study

TR. Muralidhara*, HR. Madhusudhan, Manoj Amoghimath, Devang Gautam, Muhammed Zain, MR. Yashaswi

Kauvery Hospital, Electronic-City, Bangalore, India

*Correspondence: tr.muralidhar@yahoo.co.in

Background

Remdesivir is an RNA polymerase inhibitor with potent antiviral activity in vitro. It is the current recommended antiviral treatment in moderate to severe COVID-19. However, data on the efficacy with shorter course of treatment and the adverse effects are limited. Studies have not shown significant difference between a 5-day course and 10-day course of the remdesivir in severe COVID-19. We evaluated the efficacy of the shorter durations of 3 days vs 5 days by time to recovery and adverse reactions in patient with moderate COVID-19.

Methods

This retrospective study was conducted between April 15, 2020 and March 30, 2021, at a tertiary care centre. COVID-19 was confirmed with RT-PCR by nasopharyngeal swab. All patients with moderate COVID-19 (SPO2: 90-94%) were included.

Results

In total 56 patients with moderate COVID-19 (SPO2: 90-94%) were included in this study and started on treatment. The median duration of the treatment was 3 days for 30 patients and 5 days for 26 patients. The time to recover in 3-day course and 5-day course was 8 days and 9 days, respectively after adjusting the baseline clinical status to similar values. The most common adverse events nausea and raised liver enzymes SGOT and SGPT were less in 3 days course as compared to the 5-day course (6 vs 8%).

Conclusions

In patients with moderate COVID-19, our study did not show significant difference between 3-day course and 5-day course of Remdesivir in terms of efficacy and the adverse effects were less in 3 days course as compared to the 5-day course.

References

  1. Goldman JD, Lye DCB, Hui DS, et al. Remdesivir for 5 or 10 Days in Patients with Severe Covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2020;383:1827-37.
  2. Mehta RM, Bansal S, Bysani S, et al. A shorter symptom onset to remdesivir treatment (SORT) interval is associated with a lower mortality in moderate-to-severe COVID-19: A real-world analysis. Int J Infect Dis. 2021;106:71-7.

 

Dr-TR-Muralidhar

Dr TR. Muralidhar

Intensivist and Anesthesiologist

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