Remdesivir for COVID-19 (search on 16 April 2021)
Citation: Ansems K, Grundeis F, Dahms K, et al. Remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2021;(8):CD014962. Podcast available EN / ES / ZH.
What is this? Remdesivir has been suggested as a treatment for COVID-19 patients.
In this living Cochrane review, the authors search for randomized trials of remdesivir to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients. They did not restrict their searches by language of publication and did the search for this version of the review on 16 April 2021. They included 5 trials (7452 participants) and identified an additional 2 ongoing trials.
What works: Nothing noted.
What doesn’t work: At the time of this review, the available evidence suggested that remdesivir probably has little or no effect on all‐cause mortality at up to 28 days in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
What’s uncertain: At the time of this review, the effects of remdesivir on clinical improvement and worsening, and across subgroups defined by respiratory support at baseline are uncertain.