Covid-19: Treatments, Cures, and Vaccines

Would be stunned if this finds widespread use in open office or business areas. I would understand it in a contained fixture inside of an air path.

 

Or if only used above elevation 7 to treat air prior to circulation or at nighttime when offices empty

 

I guess if the light is screened to only project up, but even then maintenance workers, cleaning people, etc.....are at risk. Like I said, inside a contained environment with a safety kill switch. I have had a UV light inside my air handler at home for 6 years now.

 

This is the first good news on the treatment front in quite some time

The drug is Actemra, known generically as tocilizumab:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-08-antibody-blockade-effective-treatment-severe.html

 

Glaxo-Smith Kline moves their Monoclonal Antibody treatment for early state Covid-19 into Phase 1 trials.

GSK, Vir Bio start study of COVID-19 antibody therapy

 

This article is interesting because upon additional reading, Actemra failed in a key Phase III trial to meet its primary goals. Roche had not given up on it, however.

 

Roche to launch rapid Antigen Test in the EU and other countries the accept the EU certification. They will likely appeal for Emergency Authorization Use from the US FDA as well.

Roche to launch SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test in countries accepting CE mark, allowing fast triage decisions at point of care

 

Results are a little murky even in these controlled trials because doctors were unable to stand by and allow patients in the placebo arm die. The main trial was convoluted by the fact that even the control group received a steroid in an attempt to save their lives.

Steroids can save the lives of very ill COVID-19 patients, new studies confirm

 

At least for all of our covid homecare patients here in Florida, decadron and zinc has been a part of their treatment regimen.

 

Interesting. Is that automatic or is there any distinguishing of between early stages of the disease or later stages?

 

It looks like the standard treatment going by the local hospital H&P's here in Jax. Decadron IV or PO, maybe depending on the degree of respiratory distress, and most all also are taking zinc. I've also seen remdesivir mentioned standing by for more severe cases. The steroids and zinc continue for 10 days post discharge. Don't know if this is a statewide protocol, @gatorpa could speak to what they are doing in his part of the state.

 

Interesting, thanks for the info. I am not a medical person, but I am interested in hearing about this stuff. Thanks for sharing/explaining.

 

J&J's vaccine candidate is based on the same technology that their recently developed Ebola vaccine is based on, so they are fairly confident. They are starting a 60,000 person Phase 3 trial later this month. This pre-clinical data is from hamsters, and while not definitive about success in humans, is a continued good sign for their candidate. Their technology is different from Moderna and Pzizer and is a more traditional vaccine technology if I undersand all of this correctly.

Johnson & Johnson says coronavirus vaccine prevents severe illness in hamsters

 

perhaps sports governing bodies should allow steroids in case it helps prevent the virus

 

From what I know at the larger community hospital all admitted Covid patients are getting Decadron IV or PO for 10 days. Also all are getting Zinc.
They were not doing plasma treatment because "it wasn't approved", that may have change with the FDA giving emergency use last week.

 

Do you happen to know if the Decdron IV is standard practice because the assumption is that once it is bad enough to require a hospital stay that the viral phase is mostly over and the patients have moved into having more issues from the immune system over reaction, ie Cytokine storm? I only ask because I thought that most steroids actually damped (temporarily) your bodies natural immune responses??

 

Sammy Sosa just started swinging a bat in his back yard....ya know...juuuust in case.

 

Well this isn’t good. Hopefully just a blip though,


AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine study is put on hold

 

I think that this is a good thing. Any vaccine development is going to have glitches, and as long as they are pausing and using an independent third party to investigate (I read that in a different article) I think that it reflects well on the desire to be cautious and transparent. Any new vaccine trial that supposedly goes off without a single hitch will make me more nervous.