CORONAVIRUS | A Malaysian patient at Sungai Buloh Hospital is the first in Southeast Asia to try the Remdesivir drug, which is being tested globally for its effectiveness against Covid-19.
According to Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, the Health Ministry has started recruiting Covid-19 patients in nine hospitals nationwide to be a part of the clinical trial.
"The clinical trial under the World Health Organisation (WHO) is for 100 patients. We have received the drug and distributed them to nine hospitals.
"We already have the first case in our clinical trial, and we aim at getting 100 patients (to participate)," he told reporters in Putrajaya today.
Noor Hisham (below) was answering a request to update the press on the latest into the clinical trial.
Remdesivir is an antiviral drug made by American biotechnology company Gilead Sciences Inc.
According to Gilead's website, Remdesivir has been tested on animals against viral pathogens that are structurally similar to Covid-19 like Mers and Sars, which are also caused by coronaviruses.
On April 29, Reuters quoted Gilead as saying that its experimental antiviral drug Remdesivir helped improve outcomes for patients with Covid-19. It also provided data suggesting that Remdesivir worked better when given earlier in the course of infection.
Noor Hisham said the clinical trial would take some time before the ministry can come up with a report to submit to the WHO.
"WHO would then look into all the reports from (clinical trials done) around the world, including Malaysia, and study them.
"This would take maybe between six and nine months (from now)," he said. - Mkini
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