TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsCanada OKs remdesivir for use against coronavirus
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
In this file photo taken on April 8, 2020 one vial of the drug remdesivir lies during a press conference about the start of a study with the Ebola drug remdesivir in particularly severely ill patients at the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, northern Germany, amidst the new coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.Canada on Tuesday gave the green light for people with severe symptoms of COVID-19 to be treated with the anti-viral drug remdesivir. (AFP/Ulrich Perrey)
C
anada on Tuesday gave the green light for people with severe symptoms of COVID-19 to be treated with the anti-viral drug remdesivir.
"Remdesivir is the first drug that Health Canada has authorized for the treatment of COVID-19," said the health ministry.
At least two major US studies have shown that remdesivir can reduce the duration of hospital stays for COVID-19 patients.
Washington authorized the emergency use of the medicine -- which was originally intended as a treatment for Ebola -- on May 1, followed by several Asian nations including Japan and South Korea.
Canada said Tuesday it can be used on COVID-19 patients who have pneumonia and need extra oxygen to help them breathe.
The doses used in Canada will be made by a unit of Gilead Sciences, the US pharmaceutical company that developed the drug.
In early July, the European Commission also authorized use of remdesivir to treat the coronavirus.
As of Tuesday, Canada was reporting 114,800 cases of the virus and more than 8,900 fatalities.
