Early Outpatient Administration of Remdesivir Shortens Recovery Time in Patients with Mild to Moderate COVID-19

• Published in: Journal of pharmaceutical care
• Main Authors: Hajimaghsoudi, Majid, Saghafi, Fatemeh, Shorabi, Mahya, Mirzaei, Samaneh, Moharami, Mehrnaz, Daryaei, Negin, Hoseinzade, Farahnaz, Jalili, Farzad, Rezaei, Hamid Reza, Rameshi, Yekta, Jelodar, Mohsen Gholinataj
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 02.07.2024
• ISSN: 2322-4630; 2322-4509
• DOI: 10.18502/jpc.v11i4.16017

Background: During COVID-19, healthcare systems in underdeveloped nations had significant challenges and were unlikely to offer the necessary care. It appears that a new, reliable healthcare model that prevents hospitalization is necessary to reduce the pressure that COVID-19 is putting on healthcare systems and patients. More particularly, as Remdesivir's use as an outpatient treatment for mild to severe SARS-CoV-2 infection has rarely been examined; we aimed to investigate in-depth comprehension of the effects of Remdesivir in these cases. Methods: In our two-month cross-sectional study, non-hospitalized patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 who were referred to the hospital for up to 5 days of Remdesivir treatment received 200 mg of Remdesivir intravenously on day 1, followed by 100 mg of Remdesivir once daily for the subsequent 4 days. Patients were divided into groups based on the time of starting Remdesivir treatment after the appearance of symptoms: group 1 less than and equal to 7 days, and group 2 more than 7 days. Two groups were evaluated for a correlation between Remdesivir administration time and clinical symptoms on days 1 and 14 (follow-up visits). Results: The study enrolled 273 eligible patients with a mean age of 47.5 years, of whom 112 were males and 125 were females. Results showed that patients who received Remdesivir in the first 7 days had less dyspnea (P-value<0.0001) and lung involvement (P-value<0.0001) than those who received it after 7 days at the end of the study. Patients who came later to receive Remdesivir also showed higher fatigue, AST, and ALT levels on the first day. Conclusions: Among patients with moderate COVID-19, those who received a 5-day course of Remdesivir within 7 days of the onset of symptoms had a statistically significant difference in clinical status compared with those who received their treatments later. However, the size of this finding has uncertain clinical importance.