Interview: ‘Remdesivir doesn’t save lives – but desperate families demand that doctors prescribe it’
An interview with Dr Lancelot Pinto, consultant pulmonologist at Mumbai’s PD Hinduja Hospital. A queue for remdesivir outside the Chemists Association office in Pune on April 9. | AFP
Crowds of people outside pharmacies hoping to buy doses of the antiviral drug remdesivir have been among the defining images of the second wave of Covid-19 infections in India. The drug was earlier manufactured to treat Ebola and then repurposed to treat Covid-19. Concerns remain that remdesivir, which has been shown to be ineffective in large randomised controlled trials, is being overprescribed.