Abstract
Remdesivir is an antiviral drug for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the sustained antiviral activity against Omicron variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been reported. In this single-center retrospective study, we first compared the clinical effectiveness of remdesivir-based therapy between Omicron and other variant phases of moderate COVID-19 in a real-world setting. Between Dec 2020 and July 2022, a total of 406 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia were treated with remdesivir-based therapy on admission. The oxygen deterioration rate after initiation of treatment significantly decreased in the Omicron variant phase compared to the alpha and delta variant phases. In an adjusted multivariate Cox proportional hazards model, Omicron variant phase was significantly associated with delayed oxygen deterioration and early recovery from hypoxia. These favorable outcomes during the Omicron variant phase, compared to previous variant phases, might be due to the attenuation and the popularization of vaccination.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge all participants of this study.
Disclosure statement
AS reports lecture fees from Boehringer Ingelheim and GSK. KF reports research grants from Novartis Pharma and GSK, and lecture fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis Pharma, and Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. JF reports lecture fees from Boehringer Ingelheim and AstraZeneca. TK reports lecture fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Asahi Kasei Pharma, and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Other authors have no conflicts of interest to report.
Data availability statement
All data generated or analyzed during this study was included in published article.