Covid-19 Treatment: After Plasma Therapy, Now Remdesivir Likely To Be Dropped Soon

Ganga Ram hospital chairperson Dr DS Rana said Remdesivir may be dropped soon as there is no such evidence of its functioning, and at present only three medicines are working.

Remdesivir (Representative Image)

New Delhi: After several Covid-19 treatment theraphies were discontinued in the past inclduing Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and the recent Plasma therapy, Ganga Ram hospital Chairperson Dr DS Rana has hinted that Remdesivir is also being considered to be dropped soon since there is no evidence of its effectiveness in treating Covid patients.

"If we talk about other medicines which we use in Covid treatment, there is no such evidence regarding Remdesivir that works in Covid-19 treatment. Medicines that do not have any activity to work, will have to be discontinued", said Dr Rana while talkin to the news agency ANI.

"All the experimental medicines, be plasma therapy (which is now discontinued) or Remdesivir, all of them may be dropped soon as there is no such evidence of its functioning. Right now only three medicines are working", Dr Rana added.

Earlier this week , the government dropped the off-label use of convalescent plasma as it was not found beneficial in decreasing the progression to severe disease or death.

The decision was taken post a meeting of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Task Force for Covid-19 last week wherein all members called for removing the use of convalescent plasma from the guidelines while citing its ineffectiveness and inappropriate use in several cases.

After reporting a slight drop in number of fresh cases of infection on Tuesday, India reported  2,67,334 new Covid-19 cases, 3,89,851 discharges and 4529 deaths (highest in a single day) in last 24 hrs on Wednesday, as per Union Health Ministry.

The cumulative caseload stands at 2,54,96,330, including 2,19,86,363 discharges, 32,26,719  active cases and 2,83,248 deaths.