TY - JOUR
AR - IJRGM-2020-4-101
TI - Remdesivir for the Treatment of Severe SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19): A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
AU - Zhipeng, Yan
AU - Ka Shing , Cheung
AU - Eric , Ho-Yin Lau
AU - Ching-Lung, Lai
JO - International Journal of Regenerative Medicine
PY - 2020
DA - Wed 23, Dec 2020
SN - 2613-5914
DO - http://dx.doi.org/10.31487/j.RGM.2020.04.01
UR - https://www.sciencerepository.org/remdesivir-for-the-treatment-of-severe-sars-cov-2-covid-19_RGM-2020-4-101 
KW - Remdesivir, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, systematic review, meta-analysis
AB - Background: Coronavirus Disease in 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Over 53 million people have been infected with over 1.3 million deaths. However, there is no standard
treatment or vaccines to date. Recently, several randomized controlled trials and cohort studies have
demonstrated the efficacy of remdesivir for the treatment of severe COVID-19 patients. This is a systematic
review and meta-analysis to define its efficacy.
Methods: A systematic review was done on databases (PubMed, Embase, Medline, Cochrane) on 9 Nov
2020. Search keywords were remdesivir, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, randomized controlled trials and cohort
studies. Studies with high-evidence values were selected to evaluate its clinical efficacy in terms of risk
ratio, time to clinical improvement, and mortality risk. Subgroup analysis was performed based on baseline
hospitalization status, age and ethnicity.
Results: Of the 1328 studies, 6 studies were selected and pooled for meta-analysis. Remdesivir was
associated with clinical improvement (risk ratio 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.28, p=0.02). It shortened the mean
time of clinical improvement by 3.32 days (95% CI -4.37 to -2.28, p<0.001). However, its use was not
associated with reduced mortality risk (risk ratio 0.75, 95% CI 0.40–1.40). In subgroup analysis, remdesivir
was associated with clinical improvement in patients without the need of invasive ventilation (risk ratio
1.90, 95% CI 1.58-2.29, p<0.001; hazard ratio 2.22, 95% CI, 1.64-3.02), and age less than 70 years (risk
ratio 2.14, 95% CI 1.39-3.28, p<0.001).
Conclusion: Remdesivir is effective in the treatment of severe COVID-19 patients, in particular those
without invasive ventilation