Covid-19: Treatments, Cures, and Vaccines

Damitt Jim, I'm a doctor not a magician.

 

Moderna is an interesting case study. Underlying technology makes sense on paper, yet lots of hype coupled to zero clinical validation several years in. Don’t get me wrong, hope they’re successful, just not giving good odds at this point.

 

My odds on favorite of the US contenders has not entered human trials yet, but the Government is putting nearly $1B into Johnson and Johnson for them to scale up production of their as of yet proven vaccine to have 600-800 million doses by fall of 2021. Guessing there is some inside information that BARDA has that none of us do.

 

I didn’t get the call. Unfortunately did numerous Serological tests because I was far from asymptotic, and just read everything on them I could (read about the random calls).

My donation to society will be plasma in one and a half weeks because I have the IgG levels of Tebow and Chuck Norris. Have to be two weeks clear of the virus with numerous negative RT-qPCR tests (the other main test for people who don’t read about this all day). And I do consider that a sacrifice because them shoving a Q Tip six inches in each nostril after waiting in a line of cars for 3 hours sucks (Miami’s current process for RT test).

 

For 10 seconds, I might add

 

talk about pissing in someone's corn flakes

 

Lifeline pipeline

 

Preliminary Phase 3 data from the University of Chicago Remdesivir Trial came out this weekend, and it continues to be encouraging anecdotally:

More Encouraging Signs for Remdesivir as COVID-19 Treatment

On another site, it was reported that another larger trial of severely ill patients was expanded over the weekend from 2400 patients to 6000. A panel of doctors and health experts overseeing the trial had to approve the expansion of the trial, so it is generally considered that the results are good, and/or at least not appearing to show significant danger. Sadly, here in the US, there is no shortage of candidates willing to/ needing to participate.

 

A vaccine for Covid-19 could be ready by the end of summer

This would have to be one of many, many successful vaccines since there is not way to scale one drug up to the billions of doses that will be needed. If it is even successful.

A vaccine for Covid-19 could be ready by the end of summer

 

Fujifilm speeds production of potential COVID-19 therapy Avigan

This is the "anti-viral of last resort" in Japan for combating novel influenza strains and has been showing some promise in Japan in treating Covid-19.

Fujifilm speeds production of potential COVID-19 therapy Avigan

 

FDA Approves wide use of the oral fluid test developed by a California company. While volumes of production will be low initially, 20k kits daily is not bad. They are also continuing to work on the "holy grail", and that is a fluid test performed at Home.

FDA greenlights oral fluid test for COVID-19

 

Looking more and more like Remdesivir may be a real treatment option. If it works, hopefully they can use this like Tamiflu and prescribe early in process to avoid major symptoms

Gilead data suggests coronavirus patients are responding to treatment

Chicago hospital treating severe Covid-19 patients with Gilead Sciences’ antiviral medicine remdesivir in a closely watched clinical trial is seeing rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms, with nearly all patients discharged in less than a week, STAT has learned.

Remdesivir was one of the first medicines identified as having the potential to impact SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, in lab tests. The entire world has been waiting for results from Gilead’s clinical trials, and positive results would likely lead to fast approvals by the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies. If safe and effective, it could become the first approved treatment against the disease.

The University of Chicago Medicine recruited 125 people with Covid-19 into Gilead’s two Phase 3 clinical trials. Of those people, 113 had severe disease. All the patients have been treated with daily infusions of remdesivir.

“The best news is that most of our patients have already been discharged, which is great. We’ve only had two patients perish,” said Kathleen Mullane, the University of Chicago infectious disease specialist overseeing the remdesivir studies for the hospital.

 

FDA Grants EUA to LabCorp's At-Home COVID-19 Test Kit

 

Good time to be a LabCorp stockholder

 

On CNBC they said the test would first be SOLD to healthcare workers then to the public.

Cost 119.00

 

So I have to pay $119 to test if I have a disease for which there really isn't any treatment and then if positive, I have to quarantine for 14 more days?

 

And more info coming out

You take your own sample and then mail it back to the lab to be tested.

So not really an out home test, just an at home sample gathering.
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Never mind, I was repeating what they said on CNBC. I looked it up and you order it on line.
Introducing Self-Collection Kits for COVID-19 Testing

 

Better to know so you can act responsibly

 

more info on the this home testing.
You need a RX to buy it.

What's the point? You pay your Dr to get a script to order the test to do yourself.

Bad model.