Potential remdesivir‐related transient bradycardia in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19)

Pallotto, Carlo; Suardi, Lorenzo R.; Gabbuti, Andrea; Esperti, Sara; Mecocci, Lorenzo; Blanc, Pierluigi

BACKGROUND The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is still a global concern with elevated morbidity and mortality. Between several candidates, only a few drugs appeared to be promising. One of them, remdesivir (RDV), was recently approved by the European Medicines Agency for COVID-19 treatment but our knowledge about its potential side effects are still scarce. OBJECTIVES To describe potential RDV-related cardiologic adverse events. PATIENTS AND METHODS Retrospective observational case series. We consecutively enrolled all the patients admitted to our ward with COVID-19 from September 14th to October 14th. RESULTS Twenty patients were treated with RDV during the study period. We observed a tendency to develop bradycardia in association with RDV administration in 12/20 patients with no other clinically relevant alterations. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS We pointed out this possible potential adverse event related to RDV administration. More studies are necessary to better clarify our findings and their potential association with RDV treatment. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.