EMA committee probes possible kidney injury from Gilead’s remdesivir

(Reuters) – The European drugs regulator said yesterday its safety committee was reviewing reports of acute kidney injury in some COVID-19 patients who had been given Gilead Sciences Inc’s remdesivir.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said at this point it was not clear whether there is a causal relationship between remdesivir and the reports of acute kidney injury. Its committee would review all available data to find that out.

The treatment, one of the first to shorten the recovery time among COVID-19 patients in clinical trials, has been approved for emergency use in several countries including Europe and United States.

Kidney injury can be caused by COVID-19 as well as other factors such as diabetes, the EMA said in a statement.