Posted by A recent review in Science [1] reported that WHO on 20 March announced the launch of SOLIDARITY, an unprecedented, coordinated push to collect robust scientific data rapidly during a pandemic. The study, which could include many thousands of patients in dozens of countries, has emphasized simplicity so that even hospitals overwhelmed by an onslaught of COVID-19 patients can participate.
For its study, WHO chose an experimental antiviral called remdesivir; the malaria medication chloroquine (or its chemical cousin hydroxychloroquine); a combination of the HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir; and that combination plus interferon-beta, an immune system messenger that can help cripple viruses. The treatments would stop the virus by different mechanisms (Figure 1), but each has drawbacks.
Remdesivir, developed by Gilead Sciences to combat Ebola and related viruses, shuts down viral replication by inhibiting a key viral enzyme, the RNA polymerase. It didn’t help patients with Ebola in a test during the 2019 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But in 2017, researchers showed in test tube and animal studies that the drug can inhibit the SARS and MERS viruses.
The drug, which is given intravenously, has been used in hundreds of COVID-19 patients in the United States and Europe under what’s known as compassionate use, which required Gilead to review patient records; some doctors have reported anecdotal evidence of benefit, but no hard data. Gilead says it is now starting to supply remdesivir under a simpler “expanded use” designation. Five other clinical trials underway in China and the United States are testing it and may have preliminary results soon.