Remdesivir, one of the big treatment hopes for Covid-19, has very little effect on preventing deaths, according to a large and comprehensive trial run by the World Health Organization.
The drug, made by the US biotech firm Gilead, has been talked up as a potential cure and was taken by Donald Trump. A trial in the US had previously showed it reduced the length of stay in hospital. But the gold-standard Solidarity WHO trial, which was based on a far larger sample – 3,000 people on the drug, compared with as many who were not – showed remdesivir had little effect on deaths over 28 days.
Gilead was told about the results on 23 September, 10 days before publication, and was given a first draft of the study on 28 September. The WHO said the company was told the outcome in advance as part of an agreement to provide the drug for free.
On 8 October, Gilead signed a contract for 500,000 doses of the drug with the European commission – which did not know the results – at a cost of €850m (£733m).
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