A new study shows patients taking Remdesivir -- an experimental drug found to work against the new coronavirus -- may not need to take it as long as previously thought, suggesting more patients could be treated with it.
The international study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found there’s no significant difference between those who were treated with the anti-viral drug for five days versus 10 days.
One of the doctors behind the findings said that could mean twice as many patients would be able to be treated with Remdesivir.
Francisco Narty — an infectious disease doctor at Brigham and Women's Hospital — said that the finding “doubles the estimated supply of the drug," according to the Boston Globe.
Nearly 400 hospitalized patients were treated with the drug as part of the trial. About half of them took it for five days and the other half for 10.
The study was funded by the maker of Remdesivir, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
The data backs up a similar study by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
