▲ Remdesivir

South Korea's government, which had been cautious about Remdesivir, a medicine developed for Ebola virus originally, as a temporary medicine for COVID-19, changed its direction to prepare for special imports in a day. Its move is interpreted as considering the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision to approve emergency use.

Kwon Jun-wook, the second head of the central quarantine task force at the Korean Centers, said in a regular press briefing on the second that the government is preparing enough for the rapid progress of the special import process of Remdesivir in case of similar events.

Until the previous day, Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety had maintained a cautious stance, saying that it was not a step to determine the safety and effectiveness of Remdesivir as medicine for COVID-19.

The government changed its stance because the FDA, which wields absolute authority in the world's largest U.S. pharmaceutical market, has approved limited use of Remdesivir as medicine for COVID-19. In fact, it is said to be the most influential institution in the global market.

However, Remdesivir has had some side effects, so the voice of the public's criticism is increasing with the statement that the approval of Remdesivir is too sudden and only for Donald Trump, the president of the U.S.A, his government, and the coming election.

▲ Gilead which developed Remdesivir

Meanwhile, academia has not seen the effect of Remdesivir as a stable step. The National Institute of Allergic Diseases (NIAID) under the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) said that Remdesivir had a positive effect of shortening the recovery period after the infection of COVID-19, but failed to say whether it would lower the death rate. In addition, in clinical trials at Gilead Science, a developer of Remdesivir, it was shown that side effects such as nausea and acute respiratory failure appeared in some dispensed patients, and eight percent of the dispensed group after five days and 11 percent of the dispensed group after ten days died.

May 9th, 2020

by Kim Hyeon