Sloan Kettering Chief Doc Tells CNN Remdesivir is ‘Mediocre Treatment’ for Coronavirus: ‘Not a Game-Changer’

Dr. Kent Sepkowitz, an infectious disease specialist and Deputy Physician-in-Chief for Quality and Safety at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York, provided some perspective on the drug Remdesivir, telling CNN it is “adequate as a mediocre treatment” for the coronavirus, but “not a game-changer.”

On Thursday morning’s edition of CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto, anchor Jim Sciutto asked Dr. Sepkowitz about the 15 percent false negative rate in widely-used coronavirus tests.

“I just wonder, given those holes, and I’m not saying testing isn’t important because clearly it is and it seems to be the best weapon you have here, but given those holes, what does that tell us about decisions that public officials will be making? Because you may get tested and say hey you’re safe, but you’re not really safe, so how do you balance that information?” Sciutto asked.

“We have the tests that we have,” Dr. Sepkowitz said. “We always wish they were better. we are able to make decisions based on pretty good data. I think if you look at South Korea, which we invoke all the time, a recent study how they controlled an outbreak in a commercial building. You know, this is doable. No test is perfect, to say we shouldn’t embrace testing as our primary strategy is misguided, we have what we have.”

He then added “It’s good, it’s not perfect. Similar to Remdesivir, you know, it’s adequate as a mediocre treatment. It’s not a game changer.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci hailed new clinical data on the drug as “quite good news” during a White House photo op on Wednesday, and the stock market appeared to react positively to the news.

But Dr. Sepkowitz’s observation isn’t actually in conflict with what Fauci has said about the drug. On Thursday morning, he told The Today Show that Remdesivir is “the first step in what we project will be better and better drugs coming along,” and that “it’s good news, but I was very serious when I said this is not the total answer, by any means, but it’s a very important first step.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.