Covid-19 roundup: Gilead touts preclinical promise for oral remdesivir; Roche prepares for virus to become endemic
With remdesivir still standing as the only antiviral approved to treat Covid-19, Gilead has been exploring new ways to expand its use. Now its researchers, in collaboration with a team from the University of Carolina in Chapel Hill, have come up with preclinical results backing up an oral candidate.
And they have their sights set beyond Covid-19.
GS-621763, a prodrug of the parental nucleoside of remdesivir, appeared promising in both in vitro experiments in cell cultures and in vivo experiments involving mice. Notably, the scientists also compared GS-621763 against Merck’s molnupiravir, another oral nucleoside analog antiviral currently being tested in humans, and found both drugs to be “similarly efficacious.”
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