Crowds of people outside pharmacies hoping to buy doses of the antiviral drug remdesivir have been among the defining images of the second ...
Crowds of people outside pharmacies hoping to buy doses of the antiviral drug remdesivir have been among the defining images of the second wave of Covid-19 infections in India. The drug was earlier manufactured to treat Ebola and then repurposed to treat Covid-19. Concerns remain that remdesivir, which has been shown to be ineffective in large randomised controlled trials, is being overprescribed.
Also in great demand is plasma therapy, using plasma from patients who have recovered from the disease, despite the fact that this was hown to be ineffective in reducing mortality in a trial conducted by the Indian Council for Medical Research.
On Friday, in response to a statement of the Gujarat Advocate General about the “myths of efficacy of remdesivir” and that the drug was being overprescribed, the Gujarat High Court observed that “ ...the public doesn’t know… public thinks remdesivir will save them from Covid-19… unnecessarily hype has been created… the state should have seen to it that remdesivir was not given that much of importance if it was not all that relevant.”
How have physicians dealt with the challenge of limited treatment options? How has the treatment protocol in India evolved?
Scroll.in spoke to Dr Lancelot Pinto, consultant pulmonologist at Mumbai’s PD Hinduja Hospital.
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