How People Can Access Experimental Drugs Like Remdesivir
Compassionate use allows very sick people to get access to treatments that might help Covid-19 — but it’s complicated.
Eleven days after the first confirmed Covid-19 patient in the United States reported symptoms, he was treated with an experimental antiviral drug called remdesivir.
The 35-year-old man had recently returned to Washington from visiting family in Wuhan, China, where the virus originated. He was admitted to Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington, a few days after he developed a dry cough, fever, and — just before admission — nausea, according to a case report published March 5 in the New England Journal of Medicine. During the first five days of his hospital stay, the man was generally stable. But on the night of the fifth day, which was nine days after he first reported symptoms, an X-ray showed evidence of pneumonia in his left lung, which progressed to both lungs on the following day. His blood oxygen level dropped to 90 — well below the 95-to-100 range that’s considered normal — and he needed supplemental oxygen.
His downward spiral was similar to reports of Covid-19 patients in China who had died. His doctors decided to try an experimental therapy. They obtained remdesivir from the…
