Outcome of Remdesivir on Mortality in Patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia

Abstract Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has become a major health issue worldwide. Of all the available antiviral agents, remdesivir, an antiviral nucleoside analog, has the highest anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity. However, relevant studies have reported that remdesivir provides only minor additional benefits in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Here, we assessed the effectiveness of remdesivir on the survival of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Methods In this single-center, retrospective study, we evaluated data of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 pneumonia at the Lüdenscheid Clinic in Germany from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020. Specifically, we compared mortality, length of hospital stay, intensive care unit use, laboratory test results, symptoms, and comorbidities among COVID-19 pneumonia patients who received and did not receive remdesivir. Results Throughout 2020, 154 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia were hospitalized at the study hospital. Of these, 38 (24.7%) were treated with remdesivir; these patients were also significantly (approximately 10 years) older than those who did not receive remdesivir (P = 0.0011). Of all 26 deaths, only 10 (38.5%) were noted in remdesivir recipients; this indicated that remdesivir effectiveness is 73.7% in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Remdesivir significantly reduced the length of hospital stay until 1 week after treatment initiation (P = 0.0041). Compared with nonrecipients, remdesivir recipients had a significantly higher respiratory distress prevalence (21.4%; P = 0.0288) as well as a significantly higher prevalence of neurological disorders (n = 9; P = 0.0025) and mental (n = 6; P = 0.0048) disorders. Conclusion In patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, remdesivir has low (73.7%) effectiveness against mortality.