New Delhi: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has suspended remdesivir from list of medicines, Reuters reported on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the WHO warned that the antiviral drug Remdesivir should not be used to treat COVID-19 patients no matter how ill they are as there is no evidence it works.
"Any beneficial effects of Remdesivir, if they do exist, are likely to be small and the possibility of important harm remains," WHO's Guideline Development Group panel added.
The WHO recommendation, published in the British Medical Journal, was based on an evidence review that included data from four international randomised trials among more than 7,000 hospitalised patients.
After reviewing the evidence, the panel concluded that Remdesivir has no meaningful effect on death rates or other important outcomes for patients.
Read: WHO warns against using Remdesivir in Covid treatment
"Especially given the costs and resource implications associated with Remdesivir... The panel felt the responsibility should be on demonstrating evidence of efficacy, which is not established by the currently available data," it said.
The antiviral is one of only two medicines currently authorized to treat COVID-19 patients across the world.
It has been approved for use in the US, the European Union and other countries after initial research found it may shorten recovery time in some COVID-19 patients.
Made by the US company Gilead, Remdesivir is extremely expensive and has to be given intravenously.
