Beijing/Washington: US-based Gilead Sciences' remdesivir, a potential antiviral drug to treat COVID-19 patients and is under several trials around the world, has reportedly failed to produce desired results during a Chinese trial study, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
Gilead's shares fell on the results of the study, and were down almost 5 per cent.
Citing a draft document prepared by the WHO which is yet to be made public, the report claimed that the Chinese trial showed remdesivir did not improve patients' condition or reduce the virus' presence in the bloodstream.
"Researchers studied 237 patients, giving the drug to 158 and comparing their progress with the remaining 79. The drug also showed significant side effects in some, which meant 18 patients were taken off it," the report added.
Gilead reacted to the results of the China study, saying that draft document included "inappropriate characterisations of the study" which is "inconclusive".
"Importantly, because this study was terminated early due to low enrollment, it was underpowered to enable statistically meaningful conclusions," the biotech firm was quoted as saying.
The news from China came as shares of pharmaceutical major Gilead Sciences surged last week following a media report that the company's antiviral drug remdesivir showed promise in treating COVID-19 patients in a "closely watched clinical trial" at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
According to a report in the health-oriented news website STAT, most of the patients recruited for the studies reported fast recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms.
Gilead's severe COVID-19 study includes 2,400 participants from 152 different clinical trial sites all over the world.
Remdesivir by Gilead Sciences is one of several drugs being fast-tracked into trials by the World Health Organization, comparing potential treatments in hospitalised COVID-19 patients in a dozen countries, including Canada.
Vaccine soon?
However, the possibility of developing a vaccine for the deadly virus is close according to US President Donald Trump. While addressing the daily White House coronavirus briefing he said, "we are very close to a vaccine."
"We have a lot of great, brilliant minds working on this," he said.
"Unfortunately we're not very close to testing because when testing starts it takes a period of time, but we'll get it done."
Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government's top infectious diseases expert, had previously said that a vaccine will likely take 12-18 months to be approved for widespread use. Most health experts also agree that it would take at least 12-18 months before a vaccine is ready.
After Trump, Vice-President Mike Pence said the data continues to show "promising signs of progress" in the US fight against coronavirus.
Major virus hotspots including the New York Metro Area, New Jersey, Connecticut, Detroit and New Orleans "all appear to be past their peak", Pence said.
Vice-President said that 4.93 million coronavirus tests have been completed across the US, adding that commercial labs surpassed 100,000 tests.
