Coronavirus: Protein treatment trial 'a breakthrough'

[nitpicker]

Source: BBC

Coronavirus: Protein treatment trial 'a breakthrough'
By Justin Rowlatt
BBC News
1 hour ago

The preliminary results of a clinical trial suggest a new treatment for Covid-19 dramatically reduces the number of patients needing intensive care, according to the UK company that developed it.

The treatment from Southampton-based biotech Synairgen uses a protein called interferon beta which the body produces when it gets a viral infection. The protein is inhaled directly into the lungs of patients with coronavirus, using a nebuliser, in the hope that it will stimulate an immune response.

The initial findings suggest the treatment cut the odds of a Covid-19 patient in hospital developing severe disease - such as requiring ventilation - by 79%.

Patients were two to three times more likely to recover to the point where everyday activities were not compromised by their illness, Synairgen claims.
(snip)

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53467022

[Squinch]

1. I am getting the impression from reading the news that treatments like this are much more

likely to be the wave of the future than a vaccine.

[33taw]

5. Just like HIV

Last edited Mon Jul 20, 2020, 10:36 AM - Edit history (1)

[NurseJackie]

20. HIV

[Hugin]

6. These are my standings at the moment in my Fantasy COVID lineup...

1) Everybody wearing a goddamned mask, social distancing, and maximizing stay home protocols. (2 months)

2) Reliable > 87% treatments and therapies. (given widely available and cheap drugs/equipment - 1 to 2 years)

3) Vaccine or other preventative drugs/therapies. (based on the fact it has never been done for this class of virus and flu vaccines are historically only running ~ 45% effective right now. 15+ years to never.)

Sound about correct?

[Squinch]

9. I'd say yes, except for #1. People who are against masking now will continue to

double down until someone in their family gets mortally sick.

And I don't think the distancing and isolation orders will be consistent across the country until Joe is inaugurated. So I think that will be more likely to take 6 months. And it will be such a wildfire by then that it will take 4 or 5 months for any kind of containment.

[Hugin]

10. I did say fantasy...

In my fantasy the average American has more brain cells than a parade horse. So, I was citing the effective timeline.

But, then there's reality.

The thing about #1 is that it doesn't or wouldn't cost a dime, only time. But, early on Tangerine Idi Amin went on his, "The cure can't be worse than the disease." crusade and as anything he touches does, it went to crap. We ended up with the worst of both.

[Squinch]

16. It is tragic that your totally logical response timeline is only a fantasy.

[Hugin]

18. Sadly, lately, I've been working in tragedy the way an artist works in clay or oil paint...

It's all owed to one petulant man-child and his power mad and corrupted co-conspirators.

[Squinch]

19. Well said.

6 months to go. We can do it.

And here's a nice thought. I wish I could link to the article but I read recently someone who pointed out that we should remember that the horror under Hoover - the horrible homelessness, hunger, despair, heartache that occurred while Hoover golfed and did nothing - gave way to FDR and the New Deal.

The worse Donny Bodybags makes things, the more willing more people will be to quickly make substantial positive changes.

I am so hoping history repeats.

[Hugin]

25. ...

The choice couldn't be clearer.

It's either, "Blue Skies - Ella Fitzgerald" or "We'll Meet Again - Vera Lynn".

Take care.

[BComplex]

44. 105 days until the election.

Eight or nine weeks from today people will start voting early in some states..

We need to take a bunch of deep breaths and hang together.

[cstanleytech]

11. I wouldn't count on social distancing and mask use requirements

lasting long enough really.
At least not ones that are required by the government because I suspect somebody will challenge it in the courts and considering the current makeup of the federal courts they might win.

[nitpicker]

40. Or they have an 80+ year old relative

AND get their noses rubbed in this fact:

If the relative gets noticeable CV, half the time they will be hospitalized.

And so far, half of these hospitalized die.

((Let's hope some of those new treatments change THAT fact, but there is also morbidity as well as mortality to be tackled.))

[Texin]

17. Agreed. Unfortunately, we'd have to move to Britain or Canada do get treatment.

[soothsayer]

2. That's awesome

Hope it pans out

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Oh, right, it's Monday morning and the stock market needs support

[OhZone]

4. Ha. You have a point.

[AllyCat]

24. Yup.

[beachbumbob]

7. no peer review on a very limited study and somehow this is important? Talk to us in 6 months

Its all about pumping the markets

[Native]

30. Double blind study involving 9 hospitals and 101 participants, not exactly insignificant.

[OhZone]

8. This is odd -

It says interferons actually cause flu like symptoms and could be catastrophic for Covid patients, and a lot of other negatives -

https://www.medicinenet.com/interferon/article.htm

But maybe as a near last resort and applied just to the lungs, it can be effective like that.

[ProfessorGAC]

36. The Flu Like Symptoms Are Temporary

When I first went on it, I felt those. Acetominophen moderated those feelings a great deal.
I'd take a couple, then do the injection.
After a few months, I didn't need to take the Tylenol first. But, just in case, I had some in my office, in my car, in my golf bag,...
If I did feel those symptoms, take 2. Within 20 minutes, no issue.
I was on this med for 20 years.

[Hekate]

42. Thanks for that info

Stay well

[JCMach1]

43. These are always in parentheses... back in March/April they were warning Dr.'s off Prednisone and

other steroids.

These are pretty regular treatment now.

[jaxexpat]

12. Sounds better than a Clorox enema administered by flying pigs.

Would look better too.

[Hugin]

15. ... wearing UV headlamps.

Completely, agree.

[Laelth]

13. k&r for visibility. We need some good news. n/t

-Laelth

[AKing]

14. Here we go

[link:https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/tiny-u-k-company-s-stock-soars-373-as-drug-cuts-covid-19-risk-1.1467821|

Shares of Synairgen Plc, a tiny pharmaceutical firm born out of a U.K. university, soared as much as 373 per cent after the company said its experimental drug cut the risk of developing the worst symptoms of COVID-19.

[safeinOhio]

22. Cost $20,000/year or $50/week.

Next week it will increase by at least 1,000% be my guess.

[ProfessorGAC]

35. I Was On It For 20 Years

$50/week is actually much cheaper than it was in 2000.
They figured out much more efficient means of production, lowering the cost dramatically.
There are now 3 companies making it, which is 2 more than when I was first on it.

[Wednesdays]

39. Doubt one would need it for a full year

to treat CV. Except in extreme cases, it probably just needs a few weeks' treatment. At $50 per week, that's a relative bargain.

[AllyCat]

23. We need to let go of this idea of a vaccine.

Treatment is where we should focus our attention and this is one more tool in the box if it works.

[The King of Prussia]

27. Well maybe... But

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/20/oxford-coronavirus-vaccine-triggers-immune-response-trial-shows

[AllyCat]

28. I get it. Still, this is a preliminary study and a press release at that

These press releases are to keep a company relevant, not to give any real data. It’s too soon. I hope it’s true but right now, too soon to tell.

[scipan]

37. I agree. They need to make their data public.

And peer reviewed would be nice.

[Steelrolled]

41. Here is the paper

https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2820%2931604-4

Interpretation

ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 showed an acceptable safety profile, and homologous boosting increased antibody responses. These results, together with the induction of both humoral and cellular immune responses, support large-scale evaluation of this candidate vaccine in an ongoing phase 3 programme.

[The King of Prussia]

26. I live in Bradford

One of our local hospitals was involved in the trial. A great mystery to me has been that although incidence of the virus here has been second-highest in the country, deaths have not. I wonder if this is why.
Any suggestion that our wonderful medical staff here are involved in some kind of scam to game the US stockmarket is thoroughly vile.

[ananda]

29. That sounds exactly right to me.

This sounds very much like a viable treatment.

[Duppers]

32. Thank you!

Interferon beta has been around for awhile and is somewhat effective in treating many other illnesses.

🇬🇧 Long live British medicine. 🇬🇧

[ProfessorGAC]

34. It's A Very Common MS Treatment

Goes by the tradename Betaseron
I was on it for MS for over 20 years.

[scipan]

38. Not medical staff, but the company.

[pandr32]

31. Excellent

But what of availability and cost?

[liberalla]

33. Bravo Synairgen!