Can Gilead’s Remdesivir Treat Coronavirus?

Gilead Sciences antiviral drug remdesivir may be the best shot for treating the coronavirus, said an official from the World Health Organization (WHO). But can Gilead’s Remdesivir treat Coronavirus?

Remdesivir, an experimental drug developed to fight Ebola virus, is currently undergoing clinical trial in coronavirus patients in China. WHO expects the trial data to be available within weeks.

At a press briefing in Beijing, WHO assistant director-general Bruce Aylward said: “There is only one drug right now that we think may have real efficacy and that’s remdesivir.”

According to CNN, Gilead collaborated with Chinese health authorities on two trials of the drug in Covid-19 patients.

Gilead Sciences spokesman was quoted as saying: “The two studies, one in patients with severe disease and another in patients with moderate disease, are currently enrolling participants and we anticipate results in April.”

Earlier this month, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that remdesivir could prevent a type of coronavirus in monkeys.

According to data from a study conducted by the NIH, the drug prevented the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) disease when administered before infection. In infected animals, remdesivir improved their condition.

Drug developer Gilead shares soared to 16-month high after WHO official said its experimental treatment is best shot for fighting coronavirus. The company soared as much as 6.9% after the open before paring some gains. The jump pushed Gilead’s shares to their highest level since October 2018.

The biotech company’s stock is up roughly 13% in February, surging on investor hopes that its treatment can be the first to curb the coronavirus outbreak. Gilead spiked as much as 13% on February 3 after Bloomberg News reported the remdesivir drug would begin human trials in Beijing.

John Milligan

Shares held: 1,574,306

Gain: $7,871,530

About: Milligan served as Gilead’s CEO from March 2016 to July 2018.

John Martin

Shares held: 2,887,225

Gain: $14,436,125

About: Martin served as Gilead’s CEO from 1996 to 2016.

Can Gilead’s Remdesivir Treat Coronavirus?

An exclusive interview of Mr. Xiao En, a former Virologist at the US Army Research Institute on the many important questions related to Coronavirus Coverup by the Chinese administration conducted by the New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) in Chinese and translated into English by GreatGameIndia team, deals with the question of whether Gilead’s Remdesivir can treat Coronavirus.

Below are excerpts from the interview:

EXCLUSIVE#Coronavirus Bioweapon Thread

How China Stole Coronavirus From Canada And Weaponized Ithttps://t.co/tc7W2DrmAA

— GreatGameIndia (@GreatGameIndia) January 27, 2020

Moderator: Speaking of outside help, I would also like to ask Mr. Xiao En very soon, that is, we know that the United States has a western medicine that is being clinically tested in China. This medicine is called the hope of the people by Chinese citizens. May be effective. Would you please talk to us quickly, that is, the drug of the company Gilead in the United States, what is the rationale behind its effectiveness (Remdesivir)? Another one, do you think it can work in a large area in a clinical environment?

Xiao En: I think this matter should be treated with caution, because there are often many things in the domestic media that have the magnifying effect of propaganda machines; it is as if to give people hope at once, a savior has come. No matter where this medicine is provided, the official media of the Chinese Communist Party will have such a propaganda purpose behind it.

But in fact, from a medical point of view, you must be cautious about this medicine. It (Remdesivir) is really not a drug for coronavirus, it is a broad-spectrum RNA-like drug. Basically, after the drug enters the human body, it will produce an intermediate state substance during metabolism. This substance can inhibit this replication of the virus, and it will have such an effect.

But in the past, a drug was developed to fight the Ebola virus. And when Ebola broke out in 2014, it was actually applied to patients in a small amount, but it was not applied on a large scale. After 2018, when Ebola broke out in the Congo, some human studies were done on a large scale. But local doctors later said that in fact, no obvious effect was seen.

So this drug, now in the United States it (Remdesivir) does see a certain effect in a patient. As for whether this large-scale human experiment has a clear effect? I think there will be many question marks. Because what is involved here is that there is a problem with the amount of medicine used in the hospital. How long does this patient take this medicine (Remdesivir)? When should we observe the changes of patients? Does the patient’s virus rebound during this medication? Then how does the relative side effect of the body itself compare with the effect of this (Remdesivir)? I think there are a lot of them. In fact, this is from pharmacology. You also have to take a closer look at how effective this medicine is.

It’s not that simple. It doesn’t mean that suddenly a medicine becomes the people’s savior. I don’t think so, but think objectively. It is indeed more important now to treat the entire epidemic situation very rationally. As for the treatment of patients, it is also inevitable that China should also adopt a comprehensive treatment of multiple drugs.

Including Wuhan University of Virology’s previous experiments on their simple in vitro cells, they also found that there are other drugs, such as even a broad spectrum, that target HIV. And Chloroquine, etc., these drugs may be effective. Because it involves Ebola and this coronavirus. It has similarities in the process by which the virus enters the body and associates with this ENDOSOME. Therefore, some drugs may have similar effects, but how much side effects on the human body really need to be carefully studied in order to show that this drug can be safely used in large areas.

Moderator: Yes, in fact these days around this medicine (Remdesivir), I think the latest hot spot is rather unexpected, but please also talk about Mr. Tang Jingyuan, the patent issue surrounding this medicine (Remdesivir). We see that the Wuhan Institute of Virology has registered this patent on January 21 that this drug can work on this coronavirus. But this drug was developed by an American company, so what is going on with this patent? What do you think of this?

Tang Jingyuan: I think this patent is actually a trick of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The patent they applied for was not actually for the drug Remdesivir itself. Because the drug itself was developed by an American company, it is impossible to grab it with such an open fire. The patent it applied for was a formula made by combining the drug Remdesivir with another drug called chloroquine phosphate. It said that this medicine had a certain effect on the disease of new coronary pneumonia (2019-nCoV), so the patent applied for refers to this formula. In other words, let’s make an analogy. If the medicine Remdesivir is a nutritious meatball, then the Chinese Academy of Sciences actually uses a high-level deceit, or a high-level theft. The Chinese Academy of Sciences took the medicine, brought the meatballs, and then wrapped it with a thin layer of dough. This is a dumpling, and then they applied for a patent. Its like I am applying for a patent for this bun, or a patent for this dumpling. So in other words, it is a very clever technique, but everyone knows that you got to eat that bun, or eat the dumpling. The real thing is to eat that stuffing!

Moderator: Mainly that stuffing.

Tang Jingyuan: The most important thing is that stuffing. What really works is that stuffing. Because of this chloroquine phosphate they are combined. What kind of medicine is chloroquine phosphate? This medicine is mainly used to treat malaria. We know that the pathogen of malaria is Plasmodium, which is a parasite. Therefore, it is actually a completely different pathogen from the virus, so why does this chloroquine phosphate also have such an inhibitory effect on the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV)? This rationale has not been clear to even these experts. They are a bit like going for a test now. Anyway, I take this medicine out and try it, and then take another medicine and try it out. Maybe this is the kind.

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