Adam Friedman, MD: The Future of COVID-19 Treatments

Researchers are still scrambling to find an effective treatment for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) amongst existing medications.

So far the most promising drug is remdesivir, produced by Gilead, a nucleotide analog that inhibits RNA-directed RNA polymerase after its intracellular phosphorylation.

While most of the data testing the therapeutic in COVID-19 has been positive, it is only administered in intravenous form.

The need for treatment in pill form would enable patients at the earlier stages of the virus to get treatment.

In an interview with HCPLIVE®, Adam Friedman, MD, Professor & Interim Chair of Dermatology at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, explained how some of the promising treatments will work.

Friedman, who recently participated in a free online webinar hosted by HCPLive® and sister publication Dermatology Times titled “Derm Clinical Updates: Keeping Up with COVID-19,” said remdesivir can be effective but there are other options being studied including nitrous oxide.

“I think this is where we are going to have the strongest impact and as dermatologists we can have a lot of input here because manipulation on the immune system is our bread and butter,” Friedman said. “The reason why this viral infection is so impactful and it’s killing people left and right is not the infection itself and what it’s doing, it’s rather the immune response as well.”

Friedman also explained the timeline drugs can be mass produced should they be proven safe and effective in treating COVID-19 patients.