NEW ORLEANS — Doctors can now use an experimental drug for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Friday afternoon, the FDA gave an antiviral drug Emergency Use Authorization.
That’s after some promising test results came out earlier this week.
And tonight, local doctors who are using that same drug, said they are cautiously optimistic.
Earlier this week when Gov. John Bel Edwards met with President Trump, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is on the White House coronavirus task force, spoke about some early study results.
"It’s quite good news," Dr. Fauci said.
He was talking about the IV drug remdesivir. It's an antiviral originally developed for the Ebola virus.
On very sick COVID-19 patients, new information showed it helped them recover a few days faster. The death rate was not significantly different.
Here in New Orleans, LSU Health's director of infectious diseases, Dr. Julio Figueroa, is using remdesivir on very sick patients already with a breathing tube down their throats. He’s giving it to three patients.
"The patients seem to tolerate it pretty well. The one patient that we have completed has. The ventilator settings have improved, although the patient’s still on the ventilator," said Dr. Julio Figueroa, division director for the Section of Infectious Diseases at LSUHSC.
Still, he wants to see more studies, but this is the first step.
"It gives me a little bit more hope that what we’re doing with the remdesivir extended protocol actually may have some effect. We haven’t had any side effects so far, which is good."
The hope is that doctors will be able to use the drug on patients with milder symptoms before they are very sick, and Dr. Figueroa said remdesivir will soon be tested in combination with another drug for inflammation. Meanwhile, he said mask-wearing is key.
"I think it’s very important for us as we enter into this next phase where things are starting to open up a little bit, and people are doing more together that we try to prevent transmission, as much as possible," Dr. Figueroa said.
And covering our noses and mouths is something everyone can do.
The doctor reminds us that although these results are promising, they are still in the early phases of testing them.
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