Antiviral remdesivir should not be used as a routine treatment for Covid-19 patients in critical care wards, the head of one of the world's top bodies representing intensive care doctors said, in a blow to the drug developed by US firm Gilead GILD.O.

Remdesivir, also known as Veklury, and steroid dexamethasone are the only drugs authorised to treat Covid-19 patients across the world. But the largest study on remdesivir’s efficacy, run by the World Health Organisation (WHO), showed on Oct. 15 it had little or no impact, contradicting previous trials.

In light of the new interim data from the WHO’s Solidarity trial, “remdesivir is now classified as a drug you should not use routinely in Covid-19 patients,” the President of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM), Jozef Kesecioglu, said in an interview with Reuters.

Kesecioglu said the recommendation would be discussed in a scientific paper on Covid therapies that ESICM is preparing with the Society of Critical Care Medicine, another intensive care body, expected to be published by January.