Third force in the treatment of COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-COV2) depends on RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) enzyme complex for its genomic replications and thus can be inhibited by nucleoside analogues. An example is Remdesivir, which is a non-obligate chain terminator of RdRp. Therefore, we investigate the activities of Remdesivir against COVID-19. METHOD: This is a systematic-review and meta-analysis of the literature on the effectiveness of Remdesivir in the management of COVID-19 through MEDLINE (from Jan 2019 to January 2021), EMBASE (from Jan 2019 to January 2021), Publics Ovidius Naso (Ovoid), Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials in Issue 1 of 12, January 2021. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist was applied and the questions generated in conformity with the participants, interventions, comparisons, outcomes, and study design (PICOS). Statistical analysis was performed in Stata v. 12.1 (StataCorp, Texas USA). RESULTS: The outcome of the reviewed relevant journals and the cross-references including clinical trials, systematic reviews and metanalysis were documented. Out of 569,000 articles, 11 roundly-suited the inclusion criteria. The comparative effects of Remdesivir on death (OR = 0.79; 95% CI = 0.57, 1.08) and recovery (OR = 2.22; p5% CI = 1.80, 2.73) were calculated. CONCLUSION: Remdesivir is useful in the treatment of COVID-19 especially the severe disease. However, it should be used with caution since all the adverse effects are not known. We recommend Remdesivir as an alternative/third-force in the treatment of severe and critical COVID-19.