The all-important drug Remdesivir, considered one of the most vital medicines to treat severe cases of COVID-19 may soon be dropped from the 'Line of treatment'. Ganga Ram hospital Chairperson Dr DS Rana has said that Remdesivir is being considered to be dropped from COVID-19 treatment soon as there is no evidence of its effectiveness in treating patients.
"If we talk about other medicines which we use in COVID treatment, there is no such evidence regarding Remdesivir that works in COVID-19 treatment. Medicines that do not have any activity to work, will have to be discontinued," said Dr. Rana.
"All the experimental medicines, be plasma therapy or Remdesivir, all of them may be dropped soon as there is no such evidence of its functioning. Right now only three medicines are working," Dr. Rana said.
Earlier, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has clinically dropped convalescent 'plasma therapy' treatment for patients suffering from COVID-19 from its newly revised guidelines.
With the cases surging in the country, we saw a spur in the demand for plasma donors, even as experts raised concerns over the effectiveness of plasma therapy for COVID-19 patients.
Remdesivir is a patented drug, manufactured in India under voluntary licenses granted by patent holder Gilead Life Sciences US to seven Indian pharmaceutical companies - Cipla, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Hetero, Jubilant Pharma, Mylan, Syngene, and Zydus Cadila.
Meanwhile, hospitals in Delhi have reported a rise in the number of back fungus cases or mucormycosis among people recovering from COVID-19 during the second wave and it could be ascribed to 'irrational' use of steroids at home without consulting a doctor, medical experts said on Tuesday.
