BREAKING Bob Cole, veteran CBC broadcaster and former voice of 'Hockey Night in Canada,' dead at 90
Bob Cole, legendary CBC broadcaster and former voice of Hockey Night in Canada, has died. He was 90.
A Canadian study suggests the antiviral medication remdesivir could have a "modest but significant effect" on COVID-19 patient outcomes, including decreasing the need for mechanical ventilation by approximately 50 per cent.
The study, published Wednesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, is billed as the largest single-country trial of remdesivir reported to date.
Results are part of a larger study called the World Health Organization Solidarity, a randomized, controlled trial evaluating remdesivir's impact on COVID-19 patients in several countries.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto recruited 1,282 patients at 52 hospitals between Aug. 14, 2020 and April 1, 2021. Roughly half received a 10-day course of remdesivir while the other half got the usual level of care.
Among participants not on ventilation at the start of the study, eight per cent of the remdesivir group -- 46 patients -- went on to require a ventilator compared to 15 per cent, or 89 patients, who received standard care.
The study also found patients on remdesivir came off oxygen and ventilators sooner.
Evidence has been mixed on the effect of remdesivir in people with COVID-19. The World Health Organization recommended against using it to treat the virus in November 2020, saying at the time "there is currently no evidence that remdesivir improves survival and other outcomes."
Remdesivir, which is administered intravenously, is a repurposed antiviral medication originally developed to treat hepatitis C.
Dr. Robert Fowler, a senior scientist at Sunnybrook and co-author of the study, said earlier recommendations against remdesivir stemmed from premature data that didn't show a statistically significant impact on COVID-19 patients.
He said the Canadian trial results could reverse opinions on the treatment, however.
"We'll probably help a number of other countries that have similar health-care systems in terms of resources to say: 'OK. ... (remdesivir) seems it has a number of positive effects," Fowler said.
"It will probably move the needle towards people having much more confidence the medication is effective for certain outcomes."
Fowler said he expects the WHO to release results from the Solidarity trial's other participating nations within the next couple of months.
The Canadian arm, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, collected more detailed data than some other countries and included patients across a range of ethnicities.
The study also looked at in-hospital mortality, which was slightly lower in the remdesivir group at 18.7 per cent, compared to 22.6 in the control group. Fowler said those figures weren't statistically significant "in absolute terms."
While the study period ended before Omicron arrived in Canada, Fowler said remdesivir is likely to have the same effect on those hospitalized with the variant.
He added that effective COVID-19 treatments are critical at this stage of the pandemic as soaring case counts have overwhelmed health-care systems across the country.
Publication of the study came two days after Health Canada authorized use of the take-home Pfizer antiviral pill Paxlovid, meant to reduce hospitalizations in those at higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease.
"It becomes critical that your next line of treatments are effective and growing," Fowler said.
"I would say, luckily, and with a lot of hard work behind it, there are an increasing number of medications, this one included ... to help patients survive and to get out of hospital sooner."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2021.
Bob Cole, legendary CBC broadcaster and former voice of Hockey Night in Canada, has died. He was 90.
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.