Gerard 2021; Remdesivir and acute renal failure: A potential safety signal from disproportionality analysis of the WHO Safety Database

Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 109 (4), April 2021

Remdesivir has been recently approved by the US FDA for emergency use for Covid although “data pertaining to its effectiveness and safety are scant.”

In this study, it was determined that this drug has a strong risk of causing kidney failure, compared with the drugs hydroxychloroquine, toclizumab, and lopinavir/ritonavir.  The authors found 138 cases of “acute renal failure” for remdesivir where they expected to find only 9.

QUOTE:  “These results raise awareness about a possible pharmacovigilance signal regarding the risk of acute renal failure associated with remdesivir.”

MedLine || Full Text

Other similar studies:

1. Charan (2021):  Rapid review of suspected adverse drug events due to remdesivir in the WHO database; findings and implications|| Full Text
   1. Deterioration of liver and kidney function are frequently observed ADEs (adverse drug events) with remdesivir; consequently, patients should be monitored for these ADEs
2. de Oliveira Silva (2021):  Potential kidney damage associated with the use of remdesivir for COVID-19: analysis of a pharmacovigilance database  ||  Full Text
3. 1. “… it could be extremely useful for health professionals who prescribe this new antiviral to treat COVID-19, mainly knowing its low efficacy“.
4. Rocca (2021):  Remdesivir in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Spontaneous Reports in VigiBase During 2020  || Full Text
5. 1. “The most reported adverse drug reactions for remdesivir represented liver dysfunction, kidney injury, death and bradycardia.”

NOTE:  Why are we continuing to use it?  There are surely safer drugs out there.