Treatment protocol against Covid-19 in Cuba excludes Remdesivir

The remdesivir antiviral, recently authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat Covid-19, is not used in Cuba for this purpose, the Caribbean country's Ministry of Public Health said today.

We have our treatment schemes against this disease, which have been explained several times, and this medicine is not included among those used in Cuba, Francisco Durán, director of Epidemiology of said organism, said at a press conference.

He commented that the drug was authorized in the United States after being applied to people in serious condition.

They did a study with seriously ill patients, they administered this medication, others were given a placebo, and it was seen that the evolution of the cases that received the antiviral was a little faster, he added.

However, Durán said, there are side effects such as inflammation of the liver, discomfort, sweating and low blood pressure.

Journalistic reports exposed that the emergency approval of the aforementioned North American entity allows it to bring Remdesivir to the market without complete data on its safety and efficacy.

In a letter to the company that produces the drug, Gilead, the Food and Drug Administration said it is reasonable to believe that the benefits outweigh the risks of caring for seriously hospitalized patients with Covid-19.

Said medicine was originally created against Ebola, but was not successful.

On the other hand, Durán reported 74 new confirmed cases with this disease in Cuba for a total of 1,611, while 765 patients have been discharged and a total of 66 deaths were recorded.