The antiviral drug remdesivir has shown significant results in monkeys that had been infected with the novel coronavirus, a study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has revealed.
The study, led by the its National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) involved two groups of six rhesus macaque monkeys that were intentionally infected with the respiratory disease. One group was treated with remdesivir while the second was not.
The first group of monkeys was given its first dose of the drug intravenously 12 hours after the initial infection, and then every day for a further six days. Twelve hours after the initial treatment, symptoms of COVID-19 in the monkeys had significantly improved and their conditions continued to improve during the rest of the trial.
At the end of the test, just one of the six animals treated with remdesivir displayed mild difficulty breathing, while all six animals in the untreated group had difficulty breathing.
The amount of virus found in their lungs was significantly lower in the treatment group compared to the untreated group, the study stated, and the coronavirus caused less damage to the lungs in the treated monkeys than in the untreated ones.
"Early treatment with the experimental antiviral drug remdesivir significantly reduced clinical disease and damage to the lungs of rhesus macaques infected with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19," the NIH wrote in a statement.
Remdesivir, originally produced by American biotech company Gilead Sciences Inc. to treat Ebola, is one of several drugs being tested to evaluate their ability to treat the novel coronavirus; clinical trials are already underway with human patients.
Testing of remdesivir on humans began with a clinical trial at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha in February, and the University of Chicago Medicine Hospital, which on Thursday reported seeing rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms in 113 patients with coronavirus who were being treated with the experimental drug. Nearly all patients were discharged from hospital in less than a week, the Chicago report stated.
Shares of Gilead Sciences Inc. rose 10% in early trading on Friday after reports of the success of the trials at the hospital.
US Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, a noted surgeon who is a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said on Friday that remdesivir appeared to be a promising treatment for COVID-19.
"It is very promising and it has been utilized in various places, not just in one clinical study," Carson told Fox Business Network.
Reuters contributed to this report.