HealthDay Reports: Combining Remdesivir With Other Meds Could Boost COVID-Fighting Power
A clinical trial in the United States is looking at a combination drug therapy for COVID-19 treatment that can both prevent the virus from spreading inside the body and help to quiet the extreme immune system response to COVID-19, which can cause inflammation.
Combining Remdesivir With Other Meds Could Boost COVID-Fighting Power
THURSDAY, May 21, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A combination drug therapy for COVID-19 aims to both prevent the virus from spreading inside the human body as well as quelling the immune system havoc that the germ wreaks.
A U.S. federally funded clinical trial is testing whether the experimental antiviral drug remdesivir works better against COVID-19 if given with a powerful anti-inflammatory drug called baricitinib.
"Baricitinib is a once-daily oral drug that has been well-tolerated in many studies examining its use in rheumatoid arthritis. It has very few drug interactions, so can [it] be combined with most antivirals such as remdesivir," said Dr. Vincent Marconi, a professor of medicine and global health at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.