Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Mar 27:9:100128.
doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2020.100128. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Current knowledge about the antivirals remdesivir (GS-5734) and GS-441524 as therapeutic options for coronaviruses

E Susan Amirian  1 , Julie K Levy  2
Affiliations
Review

Current knowledge about the antivirals remdesivir (GS-5734) and GS-441524 as therapeutic options for coronaviruses

E Susan Amirian et al. One Health. .

Abstract

Recent international epidemics of coronavirus-associated illnesses underscore the urgent medical and public health need for vaccine development and regulatory body approved therapies. In particular, the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has quickly intensified interest in developing treatment options to mitigate impact on human life. Remdesivir (GS-5734™) is a broad-spectrum antiviral drug that is now being tested as a potential treatment for COVID-19 in international, multi-site clinical trials. Currently available evidence about the antiviral effects of remdesivir against coronaviruses is primarily based on in vitro and in vivo studies (including some on a chemically related compound, GS-441524™), which have demonstrated largely favorable findings. As the pandemic progresses, information from human compassionate use cases will continue to accumulate before the clinical trials are concluded. It is imperative for public health practitioners and the One Health community to stay up to date on the most promising potential therapeutic options that are under investigation. Thus, the purpose of this review is to synthesize the knowledge to date about remdesivir as a therapeutic option for coronaviruses, with a special focus on information relevant to the One Health community.

Keywords: COVID-19; Compassionate use; Coronavirus; GS-5734; Remdesivir; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no relevant conflicts of interest. E.S. Amirian was previously employed by McKesson Specialty Health, where she conducted health economics and outcomes research contract studies. However, none of these studies involved Gilead Sciences.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Chemical structures of: a) Remdesivir⁎; b) GS-441524⁎⁎; c) triphosphate metabolite of both drugs†. * Original source of image: PubChem Database, National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Database. Remdesivir, CID = 121304016, https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/cid-121304016 (accessed on Mar. 21, 2020). ** Original source of image: PubChem Database, National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Database. GS-441524, CID = 44468216, https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/44468216 (accessed on Mar. 21, 2020). †Adapted from Reference [50].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Vassilara F., Spyridaki A., Pothitos G., Deliveliotou A., Papadopoulos A. A rare Case of human coronavirus 229E associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome in a healthy adult. Case Rep. Infect. Dis. 2018;2018:6796839. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Paules C.I., Marston H.D., Fauci A.S. Coronavirus infections-more than just the common cold. JAMA. 2020 - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) https://www.who.int/ith/diseases/sars/en/ Available from: (accessed on 9 March 2020)
    1. World Health Organization Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV): MERS Monthly Summary, November 2019. https://www.who.int/emergencies/mers-cov/en/ Available from: (accessed on 9 March 2020)
    1. Muller M.A., Meyer B., Corman V.M., Al-Masri M., Turkestani A., Ritz D. Presence of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus antibodies in Saudi Arabia: a nationwide, cross-sectional, serological study. Lancet Infect. Dis. 2015;15(5):559–564. - PMC - PubMed