“Young Entrepreneur”, the 2 words which we hear every day around. Their field may be different but the purpose is one, “To succeed and to be part of lives of many more success makers”. These young minds devote themselves to an extent that they sometimes are called to be as a face for a face (a success influencer for the other success influencer) and this is what made Purujit Singh, the loved and well-known entrepreneur and event organizer around. 

Purujit on today’s date runs event management & advertising company named Big Projects and owns the first International Film Making Institute in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, named IIFF India. He has accorded with more than 200+ awards by varied celebrities and event management companies for the support he provides for the talented candidates by conducting events at a national level along with his deserving partner, Mr. Praveen Tripathi. He also received Youngest Entrepreneur 2020 award by Sea Lord Entertainment- E24. By all means, he is one true loving heart by all around for whatever he does for the ones who need a chance to showcase their passion and love towards their followed art.

The recently conducted Mr & Miss Digital Face of India by Purujit Singh and his partner Praveen Tripathi got viral on Social media with a reach of over 3 Lacs people. 100 candidates were selected amidst 1000+ professional profiles. The show gave India, the winners of the show, Vansh Arora & Krish Thakur (1st title), Kamalpreet Singh (1st runner up), Shubham Kasaudhan (2nd runner up) and amidst the females, Pushpanjali Giri (1st title), Anamika Rai (1st runner up) and Shristy Dubey (2nd runner up), who truly were deserving to be known by the world. The winners received INR 10,000 as a cash prize for putting in the effort and bringing out their best for this platform. This show has been a success and so are the music album provided within this partnership via a well-known Indian YouTuber- Rapper Kavira Sparsh. They also provided a 1-month free film making course package via IIFFA India to the deserving talents and ensured that the talents of concern, got a platform for learning to express themselves more openly.

Purujit is a man of honor and charm. His social nature and his successes have been awarded by many well-known celebrities. Be it Young event organizer of 2020 by Prince Narula or Youngest event organizer 2019 via Rannvijay Singh, his work has always been appreciated all around. Further, he was also awarded by, Arina Dey & Parul Chauhan (well-known actresses of Indian Tv), Aurshi Handa, the MTV fame and Arham Abbasi, OTT series star.

For when a star shines, he ensures the others in line to put in some effort and this is why considering all the known effort making celebrities around, Purujit also got a chance to award celebrities for their amazing work in the Indian Entertainment Industry on his open platform. Under him, Amit Bhadhna (well-known YouTuber), Rannvijay Singha (MTV Roadies VJ), Sahil Verma (Timeliners), Arham Abbasi (OTT series star), Santosh Shukla (Jai Ho and Big Boss fame), Amandeep Singh Khayal (YouTuber), Kavira Sparsh (Rapper), Nazia Hussain (Bollywood actress), Anmol Chaudhary (MTV fame), and many other stars have been awarded for their amazing contribution to the field of entertainment.

Purujit till today has not just been a success maker but also an ice breaker. He has been a support to so many people around and “for the ones who help, do not look at others faces during their time”. Probably this is why his every effort moves in a flow and the smoothness of it provides, we the viewers and appreciators of talent new faces. He says, “there is none who can stop you if you hold the courage in your heart. The mind can change patterns but what heart believes is what it believes and we are here for the same. We are here to listen, to support and to motivate all those souls who know, their life and the line for the same, exist all within their hands. If they wish, they will reach the top and if not, they will be a part of the mob who still isn’t sure for what it wants and one must never be a part of the same.” Truly inspirational are his lines and for ones who wish to succeed, it is the sole mantra to follow, to grow and to learn amidst the large and be the face which shines brightest even in that mob.

The 21st century is all about living your dreams. We are living in an age where our youth has removed a word called impossible. Technology, business, and getting famous through apps and influencing people on the right track with their excellent content is a trendy thing nowadays.

We came across one individual influencer on social media, who is known for his style and his work. He loves gold, and it has been his USP, people love to watch him and follow him on social media. We are talking about Sachin Sonavane, aka the gold man who is a trendsetter for the people who loves gold. He always comes with different looks which are liked by many. His get-up with gold is still talk of the town. He is a distinct personality, and many say him a man of golden heart.

A believer in simplicity, he loves to keep his fashion statement simple yet classy. An ardent fan of cars and superbikes, he has a dream to own the best luxury automobiles one day. Keeping things simple, he believes that one must not imitate or copy others. “Being the way you are is what defines you. Do not walk in the shoes of other people. Be yourself and do your best,”

Sachin Sonavane is a fabulous person very down to earth and fun-loving guy. He loves to live life in his own style. Sachin Sonavane has seen lots of ups and downs in his life, and after crossing all the hurdles of his life, he is living some real luxurious life.

Sachin Sonavane is a person who brings new styles in the market. He is a typical Indian guy who loves gold more than any other thing. His every chain and all are made up of fabulous designs which shows his fashion sense too. His unique style has given him the tag of influencer on social media.

Sachin Sonavane is exceptionally famous on tik tok, Instagram, and Facebook. He is followed by millions of fans around the world appreciating his fashion sense, and some have even started following his style in real life.

Whatever Sachin Sonavane does suit him perfectly. He knows how to carry himself in public and this quality has made him influencer in a short period of time. He can be a model for top gold companies like tanishq and all as he is already promoting gold by wearing it 24*7 on his body.

For Mohammed Azharuddin MAU.Azhar, life has often revolved around fashion. His good understanding of the fashion world has made him a fashion blogger where he shared his insight about different brands, designer dresses, and the fashion world at length. However, he soon used his knack for fashion in his Instagram pictures. There are many ways has helped him to shape his acting skills. He then used social media to share and promote his videos and pictures on the web world allowing him to get a good fan base and followers.

This soon made him the Instagram celebrity giving him the chance to entertain his fans made on social media. His experiments with Instagram media proved worthy as he was offered a music album where he acts as the leading man in the songs. This will be his debut in the music world, which seems to be a different direction at the moment. All thanks to his knack for making good and quality videos and photos on Instagram that has shaped his career in a big way. His style and aura supplemented his persona getting him this offer with bigwigs of the music world.

He has come a long way from being a man with style to a fashion blogger at Instagram and now the music celebrity. He is now gearing up for his next venture which gives him the chance to come in limelight. He has tried his luck in modeling as well and has worked with different commercial and print ads. He has also remained the part and parcel of many ad and marketing campaigns for different brands. All thanks to his good looks and physique along with the style and aura he has that has multiplied in a big way.

Finally, the short film Special Time by Ashish Sonkar has hit the digital channel. Ashish who is the known face of short films in Mumbai is the man seen once again in the said film. He has worked with different short films of different genres. The film Special Time has been released on the YouTube channel of Crack Creations Films. The film has Ashish Sonkar in the lead role along with Prachi Ambre, while it is directed by Ashish Sonkar and produced under the banner of Crack Creations Films. 

The short film is all about two friends who meet daily as they start their day and depart to their works. They have ample love for each other but amidst their friendship, they keep their feelings hidden till one day it comes out as they propose to each other. So, how it works out is interesting to catch when the film finally hits the YouTube channel. The film is edited by Sandeep Singh. The film showcases a cute love story with blissful words and dialogues like when you are short of words, then eyes speak a lot. 

It further says that it’s the gaze at each other that connects their souls without uttering a single word. So, you have so many soulful words to catch in the film along with some melodious music in the story of friendship and love. Ashish Sonkar is a big name when it comes to short films and the versatile actor is back with yet another venture called Special Time. Amid the lockdown, it’s pretty sure that the digital audience would have a good time catching up on this cute little love story of two friends called Special Time released in recent times.

Peter McGuire’s idea, of the American labor-class having a day dedicated to them alone, saw NY city celebrating with picnics, the first-ever such commemorative day on Sept. 5, 1882.

Interestingly, the present International Workers’ Day was declared in 19th century by the International Socialist Conference to be observed worldwide on 1st May annually to honor those of the labor class who died in the Chicago Haymarket Square Blast on 1st May, 1886.

However, ‘Antarrashtriya Shramik Diwas’ was first commemorated in India only in 1923 when the Labor Kisan Party of Hindustan held twin-meetings in Madras (present-day Chennai) on 1st May that year, using the red flag as a sign representing the labor class, passing a resolution that declared it a nationwide holiday on every 1st May thereafter!

India witnessed its 97th Labor Day this time in the Holy month of Ramadan, with the backdrop of lockdown-silence being intermittently broken by good samaritans from the civil society, authorities, medical professionals, and NGOs struggling to address the need-of-the-hour in these troubled times.

All these ‘brave little tin-soldiers’ (an expression I loved to use in childhood to praise those who I saw working tirelessly towards a cause, much like a Queen bee’s team or the ants of the infamous “Ants & the Cricket” tale!) seem to be desperately trying to help the suffering, penniless, and mostly homeless & hopeless laborers feel the country-wide tidal wave of empathy and solidarity flowing towards them to embrace them with arms of dignity and social justice- noble ideals emanating from the will of “We, the People of India” embroidered in our Constitutional fabric by the golden thread of the Preamble.

Ours is a land where Lord Ram practiced the lofty ‘Raj-Dharma’ only to keep his subjects/’prajaa’ content with his rule; Mahatma Buddha relinquished his right to inherit the throne just to seek the ‘ultimate truth’, practicing compassion all along, finally attaining enlightenment; Emperor Ashoka’s edicts testify that he was considered the ultimate ‘father-figure’ by his subjects for his endless work towards maximizing their welfare; Guru Nanak Dev spent his life questioning social inequalities and demonstrating true love for all life-forms; freedom-fighters and reformes gave their all to try ushering in an age valuing social justice; Mother Teresa served day-and-night to battle against discriminations, and selflessly healed the suffering. Examples are infinite, but lesson-learning might have turned finite, with the cries of the hungry being unable to awaken many of us today from our ‘slumber-of-inaction’, signifying deep-rooted moral decay — a crime, or even ‘sin of the highest order’ as per the teachings of the Holy Bhagvad Gita.

During present times, as the world saw the tragic drama of the pandemic unfold, India saw a mass-exodus of a scale last witnessed 7 decades ago, during the 1947-partition!

Around 40% of our population, which equals more than 50 crore people, comprise our workers, many of them being migrant laborers, who have been the worst-hit during this lockdown since March-end to date. With a hand-to-mouth existence, uncertainty in getting work, no proper social-security net in place for this unorganized workforce, hardly any alternate livelihood options open (with less or no skills, low or no education, negligible awareness about rights or minimum wages, and the currently shut economy anyway!), they are grossly vulnerable, and facing a grim future…or maybe even worse — a question-mark on their present existence itself! Having been packed-like-sardines in various ‘make-shift dwelling places’ across the country, of course with scanty or no regular meals (let alone minimum nutrition), dismal sanitation-facilities, heightened risk of catching several kinds of infections, and the persistent anxiety of facing bereavement-pangs (due to the huge possibility of separation from their kin), the worst of all experiences for them would surely remain — their dignity being crushed by their own fellow countrymen and elected representatives, with them being treated as unwanted and invisible entities of human flesh!

Consequently, most of them thought it wise to prefer moving to their respective villages/towns, choosing to die of the virus once amidst their loved ones than dying alone of hunger, and wanted the Government to at least respect this unusual ‘death-wish’ of theirs, not understanding or even caring to think much about the possible ramifications of such a mass-exodus…obviously not-to-be-blamed!

But if this situation is viewed from the lens of the laymen, most of us have been unable to comprehend the mismanagement of affairs as got projected through multiple incidents of insensitivity displayed by authorities during initial stages, absence of systematic and phased COVID-testing prior to confining millions in cramped spaces, lack of proper strategy to isolate the infected from the rest/conduct mass-sanitization, failure in ensuring access to basic meals+sanitation facilities+healthcare+essential clothing-requirement to all those forcefully confined.

All this compels me to wonder at the stark divide between the theoretical UDHR ideals proudly ascribed to by India and the harsh realities today, the basic structure of our Constitution resting on the majestic rule of law on one hand but blind towards the idea of India being an all-encompassing whole, the age-old culture of humanistic thinking & interdependent living prevalent in our nation versus the ‘human distancing’ practiced even by house-owners whose houses were once built perhaps by some of these very laborers!

This May Day in India saw no picnics as in the U.S. of 1880s, but laborers falling to sleep on empty stomachs, perhaps strangely soothed by the anesthetic overdose of myriad pain; the redness in the red flag-symbol of the labor-class is now recalled maybe only through the ‘red zones’ categorized by the Government to contain the most dangerous ‘corona-hotspots’ of the nation!

Before putting aside my ‘thinker-cap’, I would like to optimistically remind myself of the brilliant saying, “Every cloud has a silver lining”, and am forced to express heartfelt gratitude to the present-day frontline warriors & COVID-fighters who are trying their best to set things right, risking their lives to enliven souls, dropping down their guards to help raise a downtrodden’s dignity, or shall we say, ‘enabling many on this May Day to have a hope-ray’?…

It’s rare to see people having expertise in multiple fields. Dr. Neeraj Sahni is one of them who barely needs any introduction. He is a man of par excellence when it comes to knowledge and has even contributed a lot in the field of dentistry and medicine. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Dentistry from India and later went to London to join Eastman Dental Institute and Hospital to complete his Master’s program in dentistry and medicine. He holds specialization in Oral Medicine and was also involved in research and development for the implementation of the same for curbing ailments like oral cancer. 

He worked in different global locations for around 17 years getting the opportunity to work with top doctors and dentists at the best hospitals in the UK. This gave him good exposure and recognition working as the best dentist and medical practitioners. With a huge educational background and training in surgeries like Maxillofacial Surgery at Eastman Dental Institute, we have seen Dr. Sahni exploring a wide range of specializations in the field of medicine. He remains the only doctor who holds experience in dentistry and medicine. With dual degrees, his expertise has helped him to deal with a wide range of complicated cases and has successfully treated them. 

Some of the foreign locations in which he has worked include Dubai, London, and Budapest apart from working at the top hospitals in Gurgaon and Delhi. With his expertise, he has been famous in dentistry attracting the handsome amount of dental tourists making them happy all over the world. He follows the painless procedures and surgeries, which makes the treatment simple for the patients. His expertise has found space in magazines and journals of global repute. 

Over the years, his expertise and work have given him too many accolades and awards like getting the Best Dental in 2013. Also, the dentist is linked with top companies including Zimmer Biomet, 3M, Allergan, GC Aesthetics, Cereplas, and Dentsply Sirona to name a few. Dr. Neeraj has participated in international conferences and seminars on various medical and dental topics apart from being a regular guest speaker at the University of Sharjah. He also likes photography and has been the vice-president of a Photography club in his university days. You can further explore more on Dr. Neeraj Sahni, by visiting his website drneerajsahni.com.

The rise of social media has revolutionized digital marketing. This has significantly changed the ways people market their brands online. Brand promotion on social platforms now plays a major role in shaping a brand’s sales strategy.

With such ideas, the rising digital strategist Maharshi Desai has been creating ripples in digital marketing with his over-the-top promotion strategies.

His birthplace being Gujarat, Maharshi has had the opportunity to meet Mr.Narendra Modi  during his tenure as the CM of Gujarat, at a very young age of 17. Since then, over a period of time, after meeting him multiple times, PM Modi has become a source of his inspiration.

Maharshi then went on to establish a non-governmental social organization named ‘Namo group Foundation’ in the year 2013. Reportedly, the group is now huge and around 1.5 lakh people are its members. These members belong to over 19 states in India. Some members situated abroad in America, England, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Dubai. 

Under the leadership of Maharshi, Namo Group Foundation has initiated several social activities on the national and international fronts, the main motives of which remain to be encouraging the citizens, especially the youth of India to practice the principles of Unity, Patriotism, and Social Service. Several initiatives were also undertaken to spread awareness regarding elections, voting rights, employment opportunities, education, fundamental civil rights, general public awareness, and many more. A series of such successful initiatives meant for public awareness and social service lead to Desai’s increasing popularity in Gujarat and all over the nation.

Maharshi is also the founder and chief editor of the timely magazine, ‘Namo Times Magazine’, https://www.namotimes.in  started in 2013. He has also authored a book named ‘Yuva Josh’, published in 2018, portraying the inspiring tales of youth in Gujarati language.

Desai has been leading the I.T. Cell of BJP https://www.bjp.org as District convener, since 2014 till the present day, uniting the BJP party with the general public through various social media platforms. In 2015, he founded  Â‘The Pride of India’ to celebrate and honor social service in various regions of India. In 2016, you also played an active part in the National Chhatra Sansad elections as a board member of the Student Union.

In the years 2016 and 2017, he subsequently went on to lay foundations for ‘Cricket Association for the Blind (Gujarat)’ and ‘Gujarat Blind Football federation (Gujarat)’ initiatives for the welfare and extended opportunities of the underprivileged blind people in national and international sports events.

Constantly increasing his span of service and power, Maharshi is unstoppable. Inspiring not just the youth, but all of us irrespective of our age and field of work, with his determination, far-sight, and wisdom.

With his passion and strategist mindset, Desai has now stepped into the arena of digital marketing. He has been strategizing movie promotions, advertising, P.R., celebrity management, Media, and brand promotions, in his quest for more exposure and creativity.

Today’s generation had an impropriety of giving up easily. Yet there are few people who have their own survival mantra, never to give up. Aneesha  Motwani, a 43-year-old lady have an extremely charismatic aura. A real survivor in the era of struggle has tremendously motivated herself to conquer her dreams. Born in May 1977, 

Aneesha is currently residing in Dubai with her family, originally belongs to the heart of India, Delhi. She completed her schooling from Delhi Public School, RK Puram, one of the most recognized schools in Delhi. Graduated from the Gargi College, Aneesha is presently working as a Business head in Hollywood Magic which is famous for Disney, Marvel, LOL, Emoji, Minions, Avengers, etc. 

Being a career-oriented woman and a working professional all her life, she never chooses to give up on her family life. The balance between professional life and personal life is the only way of leading to a healthy lifestyle. During her early phase, she worked at a retail brand, Nayomi, in Dubai. Her hard work grew the category from 8% to 30% where she was handling almost 65% of their business. But after some time she left the job. The bold lady raised her voice against a sensitive issue in today’s modern society,  RACISM. Aneesha left the job due to a lot of racism.

Her keen interest in modeling from childhood boosts her personality. Her father was very strict and didn’t allow her to pursue modeling as her career. But in the year 2019, her dream came true when she participated in Mrs. India’s globe in Dubai by Reddwings productions. She was titled the Best Catwalk winner. This gave a kick start to her modeling career at the age of 43. She was offered to participate in Mrs. Fame queen by Reddwings productions.

In their leisure time, she loves to cook and gardening. Being in such an alluring field,  she is not in a habit of drinking and smoking.

At the age of 43 when people think to take retirement and mark a full stop on their career, Aneesha on the other hand is pursuing modeling as a career at this age. Therefore, things are never too late,  it always has the right time for everything and almighty knows when is the right time. We hope that she touches the boundaries of the sky.

After belting out 500 songs, Rohit Chauhan is truly known as the singing sensation. With music flowing in his veins, for both parents having been celebrated singers in Uttarakhand, Rohit has made a name for himself quite at a young age.

Just 25 years of age, Rohit is an inspiration for many, particularly the youth in his home state Uttarakhand. The hilly state, nestled between the snow-capped mighty peaks of Himalaya, has for ages loved the rendition of the Pahari song, truly the identity of Dev Bhoomi. And Rohit is on top of the wish list of the connoisseurs of Pahari songs.   

Rohit’s father Rajendra Chauhan is a music director. His elder brother is a cinematographer in Mumbai. So, Rohit from an early age found music resonating in his heart. He has belted out a number of albums with his mother Kalpana Chauhan, who is another famous Uttarakhandi singer.

In the past 15 years, Rohit has sung over 500 songs, besides hosting more than 5000 stage shows. Rohit gains happiness from the fact that he has been able to contribute to popularizing the culture of Uttrakhand.

Rohit has also opened a music school in Dehradoon in 2019. Kalpana Sangeetalaya is named after his mother. It aims to train the next generation of musicians while helping underprivileged and talented children of the state.

“Proper guidance is necessary to groom talent. There are many kids and parents who cannot afford to join a music institute. So, Kalpana Sangeetalaya helps such talents with training and chance to perform in live concerts,” says Rohit.

Treatment with the antiviral drug remdesivir does not speed recovery from COVID-19 compared with placebo in hospitalised patients who are critically ill, according to the first randomised trial of its kind involving 237 adults (aged 18 and older) from ten hospitals in Wuhan, China, published in The Lancet.

Although their study is the first randomised controlled trial (considered the gold standard for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions) of remdesivir, the authors caution that interpretation of their findings is limited because the study was stopped early after they were unable to recruit enough patients due to the steep decline in cases in China. They conclude that more evidence from ongoing clinical trials is needed to better understand whether remdesivir can provide meaningful clinical benefit.

In the absence of any known treatment for COVID-19, remdesivir is one of a handful of experimental drugs undergoing clinical trials worldwide. It has only been available to patients with COVID-19 on compassionate grounds (the use of unapproved drugs when no other treatment is available). In the trial, all patients received standard care including lopinavir–ritonavir, interferons, and corticosteroids.

“Unfortunately, our trial found that while safe and adequately tolerated, remdesivir did not provide significant benefits over placebo”, says Professor Bin Cao from China-Japan Friendship Hospital and Capital Medical University in China, who led the research. “This is not the outcome we hoped for, but we are mindful that we were only able to enrol 237 of the target 453 patients because the COVID-19 outbreak was brought under control in Wuhan. What’s more, restrictions on bed availability resulted in most patients being enrolled later in the disease course, so we were unable to adequately assess whether earlier treatment with remdesivir might have provided clinical benefit.” [2]

He continues: “Future studies need to determine whether earlier treatment with remdesivir, higher doses, or combination with other antivirals or SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies, might be more effective in those with severe illness.”

Remdesivir was originally developed to treat Ebola, and is designed to interfere with the way a virus reproduces, thereby stopping it from multiplying inside the body. It has been shown to successfully block SARS-CoV-2 from replicating in vitro, and had activity against other coronavirus infections like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and COVID-19 in animal studies. Case studies have also reported benefit in some severely ill patients with COVID-19, but until now, there have been no clinical trials of remdesivir, so its efficacy against COVID-19 in patients is unknown.

In this study, 237 adults hospitalised with severe laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were enrolled between February 6 and March 12, 2020. To be eligible, patients had to enter the study within 12 days of symptom onset, have pneumonia confirmed by chest imaging, and oxygen saturation of 94% or lower. Participants were randomly assigned to either daily infusions of remdesivir (158 patients; 200mg on day 1 followed by 100mg on days 2–10) or a placebo infusions (79 patients) for 10 days. One patient in the placebo group withdrew before receiving treatment.

Trained investigators measured time to clinical improvement over 28 days using a six-point scale of clinical status ranging from hospital discharge (score=1) to death (score=6). Clinical improvement was defined as at least a two point improvement compared to a patient’s admission status.

No statistically significant difference in time to clinical improvement was noted between the groups (average time to clinical improvement 21 days for remdesivir group vs 23 days placebo group). In a secondary outcome (a planned outcome measure in a trial that is not as important as the primary outcome measure, but is still of interest in evaluating the effect of an intervention [3]), although not statistically significant, in patients treated within 10 days of illness onset, those receiving remdesivir appeared to recover faster than those given placebo (average time to clinical improvement 18 days vs 23 days).

Death within 28 days of randomisation was similar between the groups, with 14% (22/158) patients dying in the remdesivir group compared with 13% (10/78) in the placebo group. However, in secondary outcomes, patients treated with remdesivir within 10 days of illness onset had a lower, but not statistically significant, difference in mortality, with 11% (8/71) patients dying compared with 15% (7/47) receiving placebo.

Similarly, in secondary outcomes, the duration of invasive mechanical ventilation, although not significantly different between the groups, was shorter in remdesivir recipients than placebo recipients (average 7 days vs 15.5 days). No significant differences were noted between the groups in duration of oxygen support, length of hospital stay, or time to discharge or death (table 3).

Furthermore, treatment with remdesivir did not result in significant reductions in viral load (how much SARS-CoV-2 is present in an infected person’s body) or detection of the virus in the upper or lower respiratory tract compared with placebo (figure 3).

There was no difference in adverse events between the groups (65%; 102/155 remdesivir patients included in the safety analysis vs 64%; 50/78 placebo), and the overall proportion of serious adverse events was lower in patients given remdesivir than placebo (18%; 28/155 vs 26%; 20/78). However, more patients in the remdesivir group discontinued treatment because of adverse events including gastrointestinal symptoms (eg, nausea, vomiting) and cardiopulmonary failure (18 remdesivir group; 12% vs 4 placebo; 5%).

“Participants in our trial were less ill, and treated earlier in their disease course, compared with a recent observational study of patients with COVID-19, who received remdesivir on compassionate grounds [4]. Yet, remdesivir did not provide greater benefits in our study population as expected”, says co-author Professor Ronghui Du from Wuhan Lung Hospital, China. “Ongoing clinical trials of remdesivir, will provide important additional information about whether and under what circumstances it may provide benefit.” [2]

The authors note several limitations of the study, including that stopping early gives insufficient power to detect differences in clinical outcomes, and it did not account for the possible emergence of reduced susceptibility to remdesivir (which would contribute to a reduction of remdesivir effectiveness), because of a lack of data at the time. Finally, they point out that the frequent use of corticosteroids in patients in this study might have aided viral production, as observed in SARS and MERS.

Writing in a linked Comment, Professor John Norrie (who was not involved in the study) from the University of Edinburgh, UK, discusses the challenges, and importance, of conducting randomised trials in epidemics, and writes: “Promising signals from observational data must be rigorously confirmed or refuted in high-quality randomised trials—particularly given that for COVID-19 no proven safe and effective treatments yet exist…That is additionally challenging in a pandemic, and the temptation to lower the threshold of convincing evidence must be resisted, because adopting ineffective and potentially unsafe interventions risks only harm without worthwhile benefit, while making it even harder to undertake trials to find truly effective and safe interventions.”

He continues: “The study was well designed—a double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre randomised trial—and well conducted, with high protocol adherence and no loss-to-follow up…An absence of statistical significance in an underpowered trial means that the findings are inconclusive. The particular challenges of delivering pandemic trials underline the importance of data sharing, allowing rapid curation of relevant datasets for individual patient data meta-analyses. With each individual study at heightened risk of being incomplete, pooling data across possibly several underpowered but high-quality studies looks like it will be our best way to obtain robust insights into what works, safely, and on whom. We eagerly await the ongoing trials.”