Wang Chen (1st R), vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS), speaks at a conference in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)

A Chinese research team found in their recent study that the anti-coronavirus drug Remdesivir may induce testicular toxicity and result in deterioration of sperm quality of mice. 

A medical team from Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, evaluated the biological impact of Remdesivir on the reproductive system of mice and published the study results in bioRxiv, an open access preprint repository for the biological sciences, on Tuesday. 

The study found that a high dosage of Remdesivir may cause a significant decrease in the total sperm count and motile sperm rate of male mice and increasing the abnormal sperm rate. 

In the research, the team administered four groups of 28 mice with different doses of Remdesivir for 10 days and collected their testes and cauda epididymides for sperm concentration, motility and morphology analysis. 

The analysis results indicated that the total sperm count and motile sperm rate of mice showed downward trends after being treated with Remdesivir and their abnormal sperm rate showed an increasing trend. 

Further investigation into the medicine's reproductive toxicity is required, the team noted. 

Remdesivir is a novel experimental antiviral drug made by American pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. Though the drug's safety and efficacy is still being studied, it is considered one of the most promising drugs for treating the novel coronavirus. 

In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on April 10, among 53 patients treated with Remdesivir, 68 percent had improved symptoms while 23 percent showed severe side effects. 

On Friday, the WHO unexpectedly leaked the data of a clinical trial result of Remdesivir, which showed that the medicine did not have a significant anti-viral effect and did not help a group of patients with severe cases.