Corona virus: cured?

[Doug Dawson]

Just saw this in the NY Post:

https://nypost.com/2020/03/19/old-malaria-drug-hydroxychloroquine-may-help-cure-coronavirus-study/

An ancient (1950's?) malaria drug, combined with an antibiotic, eliminated the virus within 3 days in all infected people. The malaria drug is being _donated_ to the US Government by Bayer (cool!)

[Mike Henderson]

That's interesting. When I was in Vietnam we had to take a chloroquine/primaquine pill once a week for malaria. I think that's different from the drug in the article you posted but maybe anti-malaria drugs in general will help in treatment.

Mike

[roger wiegand]

Tiny trial (16 patients, I think), open label, so no control arm, questionable data reporting (as someone put it, "when biologists leave the error bars off you know the data ")

A bunch of people will jump on this and gather real data over the next couple of weeks. That's certainly worth doing, but don't hold your breath on this turning out to be a cure-all.

Our government just re-authorized an Indian company that makes chloroquine to manufacture for the US despite it having been previously barred for repeatedly flunking FRA checks because of poor quality product. I can't say that I'm thrilled about that.

[Tyler Bancroft]

A bunch of hopeful findings on chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine have trickled out over the past month or so. I'm very cautiously optimistic. They're being used in a lot of places at this point - part of it is probably wishful thinking (they're old, reasonably well-tolerated drugs, so the downside is limited in a lot of cases), but the evidence is starting to mount. They're both old enough that they should be available as generics, which will make it a lot easier to produce sufficient quantities if it turns out they're useful. The earliest results from any decently-sized clinical trials that I'm aware of are supposed to be released in May.

[Edwin Santos]

I hope it doesn't turn out to be a case of shoot, ready, aim, but hydroxychloroquine took center stage at the White House press briefing today. Fauci wasn't there today, and I'd really be excited if he gets behind it. I do hope it proves effective either way.

At the very least there is a monumental effort ongoing on both the vaccine and antiviral therapeutics tracks, in various countries. If it turns out that hydroxychloroquine or any other approved drug for another indication turns out to be effective in the treatment of COVID-19, it would really be phenomenal.

[John Goodin]

This seems to be premature news story which makes me leery. While I hope it is helpful to those who contract COVID 19 I also hope people do not become complacent about spreading the disease. We live in a country where facts and non-facts are easily warped and distorted and this is a good example of when sources should stay tight lipped until more is known.

[Doug Dawson]

This seems to be premature news story which makes me leery. While I hope it is helpful to those who contract COVID 19 I also hope people do not become complacent about spreading the disease. We live in a country where facts and non-facts are easily warped and distorted and this is a good example of when sources should stay tight lipped until more is known.

The drugs separately are "already approved", as far as I know, they are just not approved in combination for this purpose, because the purpose didn't exist until just now. But a doctor can write any prescription he wants, so it does matter that this is known, if you're seriously ill and you were gonna die anyway. :^/

[Bruce Wrenn]

Not everybody is going to die, though some will. Here locally we have an OBGYN who tested positive Imagine his patients horror now.

[eugene thomas]

Not think have cure yet but sure would be farther along if china not did the cover my a-- for weeks.

[Frederick Skelly]

There are several cases I know of, where previously approved drugs get approved for new uses. Maybe this will be another. Too soon to tell, but it's something to hope for.

[John Goodin]

Not think have cure yet but sure would be farther along if china not did the cover my a-- for weeks.

Things were downplayed here as well.

[eugene thomas]

Well in usa media is free to print storys when chose to.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I will believe there is cure or a vaccine when there is some official announcement from the FDA and/or the CDC. I wouldn't put a lot of hope on this one until there is a lot more data.

[Jim Koepke]

Not think have cure yet but sure would be farther along if china not did the cover my a-- for weeks.

China was a bad actor in all of this. They were not alone in posterior covering or misinformation on this one.

jtk

[Edwin Santos]

We're still in the midst of the crisis. There's a better direction for our energy than looking for a villain to blame.
I say taking care of the sick and preventing the spread should be the priority. Helping the economically devastated also belongs on the list. Italy deserves everyone's empathy.

[Stewie Simpson]

I am not overly confident the US would have acted any differently to China had Covid -19 started in their own country.

[Jay Aubuchon]

From an article published by Slate this afternoon:

One person who has expressed a more skeptical view of chloroquine is task force member and immunologist Anthony Fauci, the veteran face of the country’s response to disease outbreaks. But Fauci has not appeared at a press conference since Tuesday, when Trump said he had “become a major television star.”
Fauci for the past two days had been saying that chloroquine is not a miracle cure and that we still need to determine its safety.


Speaking to Laura Ingraham on Fox News on Tuesday, Fauci said, “We have to be careful, Laura, that we don’t assume something works based on an anecdotal report that’s not controlled. And I refer specifically to hydroxychloroquine. There’s a lot of buzz out there on the internet on the social media about that.”

On Wednesday, he reiterated this message in an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, saying he supported large-scale clinical trials but was against “just throwing the drug out there, which is not a good idea.”

[Doug Dawson]

We're still in the midst of the crisis. There's a better direction for our energy than looking for a villain to blame.


The villain-blaming is IMO only an unfortunate result of certain parties refusing to take responsibility for their own actions (rooted as it may be in negligence, pride or short-sightedness.)

I agree, let us remember the afflicted Italians.

[Doug Dawson]

From an article published by Slate this afternoon:

One person who has expressed a more skeptical view of chloroquine is task force member and immunologist Anthony Fauci, the veteran face of the country’s response to disease outbreaks. But Fauci has not appeared at a press conference since Tuesday, when Trump said he had “become a major television star.”
Fauci for the past two days had been saying that chloroquine is not a miracle cure and that we still need to determine its safety.


70 years after it first came on the market. Hmm.

The biggest danger that I can see if the virus mutated to thwart its effectiveness, which is why it might only make sense to use it against the "hard cases".

The real horror might start if people started using it indiscriminately on farm animals? Are the anti-malarial drugs still effective on people? In the meantime, there is hope...

[Bruce Wrenn]

There are several "Old Drugs" being used for new treatments. Metforman for breast cancer, Tavist for MS just name a couple. I don't trust the numbers coming out of China now, or then. Because they are basically a closed society, we don't hear about Iran.

[Mel Fulks]

I see Fauci's statement as just sticking to the standard schtick. The doc's as a group have to , anyone straying from
it will get bad press coverage from the group leaders and lobbyists. I believe many of them will try it if they catch the
stuff. But being discreet is a must.

[Kev Williams]

I see this 'cure' as not much more than certain people grasping at straws hoping to get lucky enough to find something already available that just might actually work, quickly enough to boost or save their images, and maybe even some lives. But 5 minutes of googling how antivirals and Malaria meds work has me shaking my head on this one. While there's lots of complexities involved I'll never know and understand, hopefully they WILL get lucky with this Malaria stuff... But it just seems a little too much like trying to find out if you can kill locusts with d-CON... I'm hoping, but not holding my breath.

[Doug Dawson]

I see this 'cure' as not much more than certain people grasping at straws hoping to get lucky enough to find something already available that just might actually work, quickly enough to boost or save their images, and maybe even some lives. But 5 minutes of googling how antivirals and Malaria meds work has me shaking my head on this one. While there's lots of complexities involved I'll never know and understand, hopefully they WILL get lucky with this Malaria stuff... But it just seems a little too much like trying to find out if you can kill locusts with d-CON... I'm hoping, but not holding my breath.

Google "H. pylori Barry Marshall" in the context of ulcers for an interesting story about how a simpler answer to what was earlier thought to be a complex problem, was resolved, and how it was scoffed at for a while, resulting in much prolonged suffering, until it eventually resulted in a Nobel Prize. Not that this is directly relevant here, but it's a great story. There was a terrific New Yorker (?) article about it twenty-some years ago.

All hands on deck, and NOW, etc.

[Frederick Skelly]

Google "H. pylori Barry Marshall" in the context of ulcers for an interesting story about how a simpler answer to what was earlier thought to be a complex problem, was resolved, and how it was scoffed at for a while, resulting in much prolonged suffering, until it eventually resulted in a Nobel Prize. Not that this is directly relevant here, but it's a great story..

I was thinking of that one too Doug. It IS a good story.

[lowell holmes]

In Dickinson, Galveston County, Texas we are told to shelter in place.
I am not going anywhere. I did put the trash out this morning.
It will be interesting to see if the garbage truck comes today.

[Frederick Skelly]

It will be interesting to see if the garbage truck comes today.

Sure hope so. Else soon there will be worse "bugs" than covid-19 to worry about....

[Mike Henderson]

Today was our garbage day and the trucks came by on schedule.

Mike

[Doug Dawson]

I was thinking of that one too Doug. It IS a good story.

There was a news report today that supplies of the associated drugs are running short at area pharmacies, with the explicit implication that doctors are "hoarding" them to handle issues with their own staff, etc.

[Mel Fulks]

Naay .....No such thing as "explicit implication". There's some good news !

[Bruce Wrenn]

There was a news report today that supplies of the associated drugs are running short at area pharmacies, with the explicit implication that doctors are "hoarding" them to handle issues with their own staff, etc.Most insurance companies are allowing and encouraging members to get a 90 day supply rather than 30 day supply. This automatically triples the demand

[Doug Dawson]

Naay .....No such thing as "explicit implication". There's some good news !

Okay, can we agree to rephrase that as "direct innuendo"? :^) This according to the pharmacies. They are taking steps to thwart it, BTW. Some people actually _need_ these drugs, for the "approved" purpose.

Time to ramp up the Defense Production Act, and actually _do_ something with it. :^/

[Doug Dawson]

Most insurance companies are allowing and encouraging members to get a 90 day supply rather than 30 day supply. This automatically triples the demand

But not the usage. FWIW, pharmacies are of course exempt from the current restrictions, so nobody should worry about getting their medicine. Unless "The Machine Stops" (obligatory E.M. Forster reference.)

[lowell holmes]

In Dickinson, Galveston County Texas, the morning newspapers reported many people being tested and 8 confirmed cases,
We are sheltered in place. I'm glad my Photosmart printer has new ink and I can entertain myself.
Our street is 1/4 mile long and I will walk my dog.
I think I will make a new Radial Arm saw cabinet with drawers. The Hurricane Harvey flood ruined the old one.
I will also make new wings for the saw table. I put 1X12 boards on door butt hinges and prop them up with removable knee braces.
I can rip long 1x12 boards on that set up. I will put saw blades and supplies in the drawers.

[Rod Sheridan]

Today was our garbage day and the trucks came by on schedule.

Mike

Do you have mechanical pickup Mike or does a person toss the stuff in the truck?

We have garbage, recycling and green bin (compostables) and all are picked up by an arm on the truck. Obviously we all have the same bins that are designed for automated pickup....Rod.