Why in news?
• The drug remdesivir has been under the spotlight as a possible treatment for critical cases of COVID-19. While the drug is yet to get approval in any country to treat COVID-19, recent studies have claimed they have found promising results.
About:
• Remdesivir is a drug with antiviral properties that was manufactured by US-based biotechnology company in 2014, to treat Ebola cases.
• It was also tried in patients of MERS and SARS, both caused by members of the coronavirus family, but experts said it did now show promising results back then.
• Coronaviruses have a single-strand RNA as their genetic material. When the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV2 enters a human cell, an enzyme called RdRP helps the virus replicate. Remdesivir works by inhibiting the activity of RdRP.
• What is India’s stand on remdesivir? Remdesivir is currently not available in India. The ICMR plans to wait and watch for the results of WHO’s Solidarity trials to make an assessment on the efficacy of remdesivir for COVID-19 treatment.
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