With nearly 9 million cases, the US is at number one among the worst-hit countries by COVID-19. Despite following social distancing, face masks, and hand hygiene it doesn’t seem like this virus is under control. In addition to that, there is no such progress in developing a treatment drug for COVID-19 patients. Some medicines which were granted emergency approval by the U.S Food and Drug Regulatory Administration (FDA) like remdesivir are still awaiting their evaluation test to include them into Covid-19 treatment.
Remdesivir received everyone’s attention a few months ago when it showed some positive effects on covid-19 patients. It was then granted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the FDA. Even the U.S President Trump was also reported publicly talking about using this medicine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) worked on finding the efficacy of this medicine using the biggest randomized trials but found no benefit of remdesivir. It neither reduced the stay in the hospital nor reduced the risk of death.
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So why are doctors giving remdesivir as a treatment drug for COVID-19 patients when it has no benefits to offer? More importantly, why is remdesivir an FDA-approved medicine and used for all hospitalized patients?
A commentary report that was published in Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, shows that the evidence on this medicine presents it as a valuable part of treatment for severely ill COVID-19 patients. According to this study, remdesivir reduced the recovery time in most patients.
The only medicine that has been granted approval from the FDA based on an evaluation study using a large-scale randomized test is Dexamethasone. It was found helpful for patients who were on invasive-mechanical ventilation and oxygen. But it didn’t help those patients who were not on any respiratory support. President Trump has also reportedly used this medicine.
Although the US population doesn’t even make 5% of the total population of the world more than 20% of total COVID-19 cases are reported here. It also holds the highest mortality rate by covid-19. So instead of the general precautions and warnings, there is a desperate need for a more profound strategy, treatment, or vaccine to control these cases.
While covid-19 vaccine production is still in line and Pfizer has even shared its plan to introduce the vaccine by the end of this year, still there is no work on treatment drugs for COVID-19 patients.
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The deaths by coronavirus are expected to rise in winter which means that this number of cases and deaths will increase even more.
France, Germany, and other European countries have announced new restrictions and lockdowns after the covid-19 case sin Europe has exceeded 10 million, but there is no such plan shared by the US government which is soon to hit 9 million cases.
There are more than 225,000 COVID-linked deaths in the US alone while tens of thousands of cases are still active. Health experts are contradicting with the US President’s claim that this increased number of cases is due to more testing. The increased hospitalization score clearly shows why the US is the worst-hit country by this pandemic, in the entire world. Without any effective controlling plan and lockdown, there is no way that new cases of coronavirus in the US can be stopped.
