NIH to conduct studies on compound similar to remdesivir

The National Institutes of Health is set to study a compound similar to remdesivir to see if it could be effective in treating COVID-19, Stat News reports.

Scientists at the NIH's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences have determined that Gilead Sciences' GS-441524 compound "merits further exploration" and plan to "independently test the therapeutic hypothesis for GS-441524 in treating" the coronavirus, they reportedly said in a recent letter.

This compound, which has been "deemphasized" by Gilead, apparently "works in the same way as remdesivir to inhibit viruses," Stat News writes, but it has not been tested yet in humans. University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers had been pushing for such tests, and NIH says it plans to conduct preclinical studies "quickly and make the results available to the research community for further consideration."

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Researcher Victoria Yan from the Anderson Cancer Center told Stat News she's "really excited" by this decision on the part of NIH. Read more at Stat News.