Remdesivir plus standard of care versus standard of care alone for the treatment of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (DisCoVeRy): a phase 3, randomised, controlled, open-label trial
- PMID: 34534511
- PMCID: PMC8439621
- DOI: 10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00485-0
Remdesivir plus standard of care versus standard of care alone for the treatment of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (DisCoVeRy): a phase 3, randomised, controlled, open-label trial
Abstract
Background: The antiviral efficacy of remdesivir against SARS-CoV-2 is still controversial. We aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of remdesivir plus standard of care compared with standard of care alone in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, with indication of oxygen or ventilator support.
Methods: DisCoVeRy was a phase 3, open-label, adaptive, multicentre, randomised, controlled trial conducted in 48 sites in Europe (France, Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Luxembourg). Adult patients (aged ≥18 years) admitted to hospital with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and illness of any duration were eligible if they had clinical evidence of hypoxaemic pneumonia, or required oxygen supplementation. Exclusion criteria included elevated liver enzymes, severe chronic kidney disease, any contraindication to one of the studied treatments or their use in the 29 days before random assignment, or use of ribavirin, as well as pregnancy or breastfeeding. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1:1:1) to receive standard of care alone or in combination with remdesivir, lopinavir-ritonavir, lopinavir-ritonavir and interferon beta-1a, or hydroxychloroquine. Randomisation used computer-generated blocks of various sizes; it was stratified on severity of disease at inclusion and on European administrative region. Remdesivir was administered as 200 mg intravenous infusion on day 1, followed by once daily, 1-h infusions of 100 mg up to 9 days, for a total duration of 10 days. It could be stopped after 5 days if the participant was discharged. The primary outcome was the clinical status at day 15 measured by the WHO seven-point ordinal scale, assessed in the intention-to-treat population. Safety was assessed in the modified intention-to-treat population and was one of the secondary outcomes. This trial is registered with the European Clinical Trials Database, EudraCT2020-000936-23, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04315948.
Findings: Between March 22, 2020, and Jan 21, 2021, 857 participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to remdesivir plus standard of care (n=429) or standard of care only (n=428). 15 participants were excluded from analysis in the remdesivir group, and ten in the control group. At day 15, the distribution of the WHO ordinal scale was: (1) not hospitalised, no limitations on activities (61 [15%] of 414 in the remdesivir group vs 73 [17%] of 418 in the control group); (2) not hospitalised, limitation on activities (129 [31%] vs 132 [32%]); (3) hospitalised, not requiring supplemental oxygen (50 [12%] vs 29 [7%]); (4) hospitalised, requiring supplemental oxygen (76 [18%] vs 67 [16%]); (5) hospitalised, on non-invasive ventilation or high flow oxygen devices (15 [4%] vs 14 [3%]); (6) hospitalised, on invasive mechanical ventilation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (62 [15%] vs 79 [19%]); (7) death (21 [5%] vs 24 [6%]). The difference between treatment groups was not significant (odds ratio 0·98 [95% CI 0·77-1·25]; p=0·85). There was no significant difference in the occurrence of serious adverse events between treatment groups (remdesivir, 135 [33%] of 406 vs control, 130 [31%] of 418; p=0·48). Three deaths (acute respiratory distress syndrome, bacterial infection, and hepatorenal syndrome) were considered related to remdesivir by the investigators, but only one by the sponsor's safety team (hepatorenal syndrome).
Interpretation: No clinical benefit was observed from the use of remdesivir in patients who were admitted to hospital for COVID-19, were symptomatic for more than 7 days, and required oxygen support.
Funding: European Union Commission, French Ministry of Health, Domaine d'intérêt majeur One Health Île-de-France, REACTing, Fonds Erasme-COVID-Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre, Austrian Group Medical Tumor, European Regional Development Fund, Portugal Ministry of Health, Portugal Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation.
Translation: For the French translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.
Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Conflict of interest statement
Declaration of interests DC reports grants and lecture fees from Janssen and lecture fees from Gilead, outside the submitted work. FM reports grants and consulting fees from Da Volterra, grants from Sanofi, and consulting fees from Ipsen, outside the submitted work. MH reports grants from The Belgian Center for Knowledge (KCE), the Fonds Erasme-COVID-Université Libre de Bruxelles and the EU-Horizon programme, for the submitted work; and has received support for attending meetings from Pfizer; support for participation on an advisory board for therapeutics on COVID-19; and support for leadership for the Belgian guidelines on therapeutics for COVID-19 and acting as a treasurer for the Belgian Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. JP reports lecture fees from Gilead; support for attending meetings from Gilead, Eumedica, Merck Sharp & Dohme, outside the submitted work. GP reports grants or contracts from Gilead Sciences, Merck France, Takeda, TheraTechnologies, and ViiV Healthcare; consulting fees from Gilead Sciences, Merck France, Takeda, TheraTechnologies, and ViiV Healthcare; lecture fees from Gilead Sciences, Merck France, and ViiV Healthcare; support for attending meetings from Gilead Sciences; and participation in a Data Safety and Monitoring Board for Gilead Sciences, Merck France, and ViiV Healthcare, outside the submitted work. CB reports participation in a Data Safety and Monitoring Board for 4Living Biotech; and consulting fees from Da Volterra and Mylan Pharmaceuticals, outside the submitted work. RG reports consulting fees from Celgene, Novartis, Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb, Takeda, Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Merck, Gilead, and Daiichi Sankvo; lecture fees from Celgene, Roche, Merck, Takeda, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Sandoz, Abbvie, Gilead, and Daiichi Sankvo; support for attending meetings from Roche, Amgen, Janssen, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Celgene, Gilead, Bristol Myers Squibb, Abbvie, and Daiichi Sankvo; participation in a Data Safety and Monitoring Board for Celgene, Novartis, Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb, Takeda, Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Merck, Gilead, and Daiichi Sankyo; research grants from Celgene, Roche, Merck, Takeda, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Sandoz, Abbvie, Gilead, and Daiichi Sankyo. J-AP reports consulting fees from Pfizer, Merck Sharp & Dohme, and Janssen-Cilag; lecture fees from Pfizer; and support for attending meetings from Pfizer. All other authors decalre no competing interests.
Figures
Comment in
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Remdesivir, on the road to DisCoVeRy.Lancet Infect Dis. 2022 Feb;22(2):153-155. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00559-4. Epub 2021 Sep 14. Lancet Infect Dis. 2022. PMID: 34534513 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
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Assessing the evidence on remdesivir.Lancet Infect Dis. 2021 Dec;21(12):1630. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00693-9. Lancet Infect Dis. 2021. PMID: 34838223 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
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