South Korea granted a Wednesday urgent license for the care of coronavirus patients with anti-viral drug remdesivir, paving the way for imports.
At the beginning of May, the USA approved the use of remdesivir in clinics accompanied by Japan, and Europe considered following this strategy.
A government review of remdesivir research in South Korea, said the Department of Food & Drug Safety had proven “clinically meaningful” in the reduction of recovery times of patients.
It will collaborate with manufacturer Gilead Sciences to speed up the initial shipment of imports without providing additional price specifics or quantity.
South Korea suffered heavily from early Covid‐19 outbreaks, but regulated it under a broad program of “trace, test and treat,” with citizens mostly following public safety guidelines, such as wearing face masks.
So far 11,590 confirmed cases and 273 outbreak deaths have been reported. Over 800 patients are still being treated or monitored.
A study by the American Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases on more than 1,000 patients in 10 countries found that remdesivir, injected daily on intravenous injection for 10 days, accelerated the recovery of hospital patients when contrasted with placebo.
