SA-licensed Covid-19 drug expected to save more than 13,000 lives this year

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A drug that will be available in SA by the end of July is expected to save the lives of more than 13,000 Covid-19 patients by the end of the year.

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Around 30,000 doses of a generic version of remdesivir, the only proven treatment for Covid-19, are being manufactured by Cipla under licence from Gilead Sciences of the US. Recent research has suggested remdesivir can reduce Covid-19 deaths by up to 30%. It also reduces intensive care stays from 15 days to 11, on average.

"There are many countries with limited ICU capacity that could benefit from this double impact on mortality," said the study's lead author, Brooke Nichols, from the health economics and epidemiology research office at Wits. Brooke Nichols, from the health economics and epidemiology research office at Wits University, said many countries with limited ICU capacity could benefit from the drug's double impact on mortality."With remdesivir, that number is expected to grow to 36,291 to 47,827 patients treated in ICU by December 2020.

If direct treatment with remdesivir also saved the lives of an additional 30% of patients, the researchers estimated that remdesivir's"double impact" could save as many as 13,647 lives in SA by December.

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