[rocqua]

Doesn't that mean that Remdesivir would essentially defeat _all_ RNA viruses? Or is the effectiveness dependent on the exact RNA cloning mechanism used by the virus?

[rwmj]

Yes, it was originally invented to treat ebola, but it's thought to have general antiviral properties against RNA viruses.

[lisk1]

There are a lot more RNA virus specifically targeting antivirals surprised that most of them are not yet tested.

[malwarebytess]

sounds like we should get on it

[rwmj]

According to this radio programme[1] I was listening to at the weekend, scientists have been warning about the potential of coronaviruses to cause a pandemic for a long time, and saying we should work on general antivirals for them. Obviously that didn't happen.

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gvd1

[koheripbal]

Didn't it? The one we're talking about was developed to fight the last two Coronaviruses.

[vikramkr]

Yep. This is the same drug they tried to deploy against Ebola, and that's why they think itll be useful for such a wildly different drug virus here as well