First anti-coronary medication was tested with the 'gold standard' in the US

The National Institutes of Health on February 25 confirmed that the first clinical trial in the US for a new strain of corona virus treatment has begun at the University of Nebraska hospital.

The drug being tested is Gilead's remdesivir , an antiviral drug that can cure many diseases, including Covid-19 caused by the new strain of corona virus, according to Fortune.

The medication is promising when WHO assistant director-general Bruce Aylward said at a press conference in Beijing on February 24 that 'there is only one drug we now think can work. and that is remdesivir '.

'Randomized, double-blind trial'

The drug is being clinically tested in China and several countries, both for previous diseases caused by other corona virus strains such as MERS or SARS. But this is the first time that remdesivir has been tested according to the US 'gold standard'.

The researchers began testing the remdesivir medicine of Gilead.(Photo: Wall Street Journal).

'Randomized, double-blind testing is the gold standard to determine if a test drug works for patients,' according to a statement from the National Institutes of Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). ).

'Randomized, double-blind trial' means that both the patient receiving the medication and the doctor who gave it to him did not know if he was taking the test drug or just a placebo (fake drug, it has no effect on the disease, but also No harm to patients). Thus, it is possible to assert with certainty that the therapeutic effect if any is due to the drug being tested, not by other factors.

China is also experimenting with a double blind method.

The first patient to participate in the trial was a person who had been isolated on Diamond Princess in Japan. The National Institutes of Health will be the state agency sponsoring the trial.

Remdesivir is not a vaccine, and is intended to treat people who have been infected with the new strain of corona virus.

Gilead shares rose 7% on February 24 after an optimistic WHO statement about remdesivir, and then down 4% on February 25.

US health officials on Monday recommended that citizens should start preparing to cope with the spread of corona virus in the country during the outbreak of disease rapidly in Iran, South Korea and Italy.

By February 26, the number of deaths in Iran had risen to 16 - the highest outside of China - with 95 cases. Italy also recorded the 11th death among 322 cases - the largest outbreak in Europe. Meanwhile, South Korea became the second largest outbreak in the world after China with nearly 1,146 cases and 12 deaths.

Also on 25/2, US health officials said the number of virus infections, causing illness officially named Covid-19, has reached 57 cases in the US, with 40 people returning from cruise ships in Japan.

The fastest test in US history

According to the Wall Street Journal, the trial was designed to include 400 global patients, including in Japan and Italy.

Although the corona virus has infected about 80,000 people in the world, most have flu-like symptoms, such as fever and cough, before recovering themselves, WSJ quoted health officials. The death rate in China is about 2%, possibly higher in the elderly and the availability of diseases.

The trial is expected to end in April 2023, but researchers may have initial results within a year, according to Andre Kalil, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Nebraska, who led the experimental research. The trial will also allow inclusion of experimental treatments, depending on the results of the study.

Time will depend on the disease situation.'In the worst case scenario, if the outbreak is serious and much worse than expected, 400 patients will be found fairly quickly, in just a few months,' he told the Wall Street Journal.

'This will probably be the fastest test in US history, because the test was only planned a few weeks ago at the NIH, and we started right away,' he added.

In order to take part in the remdesivir trial, patients must have severe Covid-19, which is similar to pneumonia-like symptoms, Dr. Kalil said. This will eliminate 80% or more of the patients who have only mild symptoms like the common cold.

Remdesivir opens new hope in the battle with the deadly corona virus.(Photo: Getty).

NIH also plans to test a vaccine for Moderna Inc. at the end of April, on healthy volunteers.

In January, remdesivir was emergency treatment for a 35-year-old male patient in Washington state infected with corona virus. His health improved rapidly after taking the medicine, and then he was discharged from the hospital. Scientists say this is a positive sign, but a 'double-blind' controlled trial is needed for remdesivir to be widely applied.

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