Remdesivir Trial Missed a Huge Opportunity

The big Covid-19 news this week was a promising result from a new study of remdesivir, an anti-viral produced by Gilead Sciences. But lost in all the discussion of how well the drug works — an earlier study found it wasn’t helpful — was a tragic failure: Gilead missed its one shot at getting vital information on specifically which patients the drug could help.

The fact that a drug, any drug, seemed to fight Covid-19 is great news. But doctors also need information on whether older or younger patients were likely to benefit, for example, and how different pre-existing illnesses might tip the risk-benefit ratio. Instead, we got what Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center physician and epidemiologist Peter Bach calls the bare minimum of information — just enough to get the drug over the hurdles needed for approval. Now there are ethical barriers to the kinds of placebo-controlled studies needed to learn more.