On April 17, 2021, the Government of India decided to review the prices of Remdesivir (GS-5734™ or Veklury®) in the country. However, the most sought after drug during the current COVID-19 crisis is also being sold in the black market for desperate patients, while social media is inundated with requests for Remdesivir. Remdesivir is a patented antiviral drug by Gilead (US). It was initially developed to treat viral hepatitis, and a cold-like virus called respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) but was later studied for antiviral activity against several viruses. Remdesivir wasn’t an effective treatment for either disease. However, some initial responses against other viruses made the FDA approve this drug to treat COVID-19 as a first. Currently, the Indian pharmaceutical giants Hetero labs and Dr Reddys sell the drug for just under Rs. 5000 per vial. Each vial is given per day for at least 5-10 days to hospitalised patients amounting to a significant economic burden on the patient. While not all hospitalised patients are getting the drug, it is administered extensively by the clinicians. In some cases, it is given upon the request of desperate patients. The belief that Remdesivier is the best available drug has turned people to hoard it, resulting in an acute shortage throughout the country. Despite the US FDA approval, Remdesivir is not administered as extensively in other countries. For example, the NHS in the UK has clearly updated guidelines regarding its use such as eligibility criteria of only COVID-19 hospitalised patients those who clinically classify as suffering from pneumonia and require supplemental oxygen. It is also given in the early days during the onset of the symptoms, only to patients with age greater than 12 and over 40 kgs in weight, with an eGFR of at least 30 ml/min and ALT below 5 times the normal baseline of healthy people. eGFR & ALT are tests to assess kidney and liver function respectively. In India, the Ministry of Health also recommended it as an investigational therapy in their COVID-19 management protocol document and tweeted that “it is not a life-saving drug”. Despite that, it is widely used as the drug of choice for most hospitalised COVID-19 patients. As sources dwindle, COVID-19 patients have been struggling to procure it, but scientists have raised questions about the efficacy of Remdesivir. In July 2020, the ICMR and AIIMS suggested against the indiscriminate use of Remdesivir, but the ICMR has not released a written set of COVID-19 protocols under which the drug can be given only to those who clinically qualify for it. Scientific research is not analysed by the observance of effects in one or two people who have recovered after taking a drug. To deduce a high quality of scientific evidence, multiple studies on a large number of people are assessed together – called a systematic review. Here, we conduct a systematic review of four Randomised Control Trials (RCTs) conducted for Remdesivir (Veklury) and present the final higher quality evidence of its efficacy. Studies 1 & 2 showed Remdesivir cannot treat COVID-19. Study 1: Wang, Yeming, et al. “Remdesivir in adults with severe COVID-19: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial.” The Lancet 395.10236 (2020): 1569-1578. This study, published in April 2020, was the first double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomised clinical trial (RCT). It was also a multicentre trial with ten hospitals in China with 237 patients. 158 of them were given Remdesivir, and the rest were given a placebo, while they were on other forms of COVID-19 protocol treatments. Despite a low sample size, the study found no significant differences in patients treated with Remdesivir in comparison with the placebo treatment. Study 2: Spinner, Christoph D., et al. “Effect of remdesivir vs standard care on clinical status at 11 days in patients with moderate COVID-19: a randomized clinical trial.” Jama 324.11 (2020): 1048-1057. Another study devised a slightly different testing methodology. Study 2 was published in September 2020 by scientists from 23 institutions globally (GS-US-540-5774 Investigators). The experiment was to study the effect of 5 and 10-day dosage in about 584 hospitalised patients of 46-66 years, both males and females, with a mix of comorbidities like hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. While the five-day dose group showed better clinical improvement on day 11, the ten-day dose group showed no differences with standard care of treatment. However, the improvement in the five-day treatment group was only a tiny change. By day 28, a total of nine patients had died from all three groups, i.e. 5 and 10-day group and the placebo-controlled group receiving standard care.