Serious bradycardia and remdesivir for coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19): a new safety concerns.

Abstract Objectives In recent clinical trials some cardiac arrhythmias were reported with use of remdesivir for COVID-19. To address this safety concern, we investigated whether use of remdesivir for COVID-19 is associated with an increased risk of bradycardia. Methods Using VigiBase®, the World Health Organization Global Individual Case Safety Reports database, we compared the cases of bradycardia reported in COVID-19 patients exposed to remdesivir with those reported in COVID-19 patients exposed to hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir, tocilizumab or glucocorticoids. All reports of patients with COVID-19 registered up to the 23th of September 2020 were included. We conducted disproportionality analyses allowing the estimation of reporting odds ratios (RORs) with 95% Confident Intervals (95% CI). Results We found 302 cardiac effects including 94 bradycardia (31%) among the 2,603 reports with remdesivir prescribed in COVID-19 patients. Most of reports were serious (75, 80%) and in 16 reports (17%) evolution was fatal. Compared with hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir, tocilizumab or glucocorticoids, the use of remdesivir was associated with an increased risk of reporting bradycardia (ROR 1.65; 95% CI 1.23, 2.22). Consistent results were observed in other sensitivity analyses. Conclusions This post-marketing study in a real-world setting suggests that the use of remdesivir is significantly associated with an increased risk of reporting bradycardia and serious bradycardia when compared with the use of with hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir, tocilizumab or glucocorticoids. This result is in line with pharmacodynamic properties of the remdesivir.