A Pill for Covid?

[purplefaithful]

A pill to treat Covid-19: 'We're talking about a return to, maybe, normal life'

Within a day of testing positive for covid-19 in June, Miranda Kelly was sick enough to be scared. At 44, with diabetes and high blood pressure, Kelly, a certified nursing assistant, was having trouble breathing, symptoms serious enough to send her to the emergency room.

When her husband, Joe, 46, fell ill with the virus, too, she really got worried, especially about their five teenagers at home: "I thought, 'I hope to God we don't wind up on ventilators. We have children. Who's going to raise these kids?"
But the Kellys, who live in Seattle, had agreed just after their diagnoses to join a clinical trial at the nearby Fred Hutch cancer research center that's part of an international effort to test an antiviral treatment that could halt covid early in its course.By the next day, the couple were taking four pills, twice a day. Though they weren't told whether they had received an active medication or placebo, within a week, they said, their symptoms were better. Within two weeks, they had recovered.
"I don't know if we got the treatment, but I kind of feel like we did," Miranda Kelly said. "To have all these underlying conditions, I felt like the recovery was very quick."
The Kellys have a role in developing what could be the world's next chance to thwart covid: a short-term regimen of daily pills that can fight the virus early after diagnosis and conceivably prevent symptoms from developing after exposure.
"Oral antivirals have the potential to not only curtail the duration of one's covid-19 syndrome, but also have the potential to limit transmission to people in your household if you are sick," said Timothy Sheahan, a virologist at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill who has helped pioneer these therapies.

Antivirals are already essential treatments for other viral infections, including hepatitis C and HIV. One of the best known is Tamiflu, the widely prescribed pill that can shorten the duration of influenza and reduce the risk of hospitalization if given quickly.
The medications, developed to treat and prevent viral infections in people and animals, work differently depending on the type. But they can be engineered to boost the immune system to fight infection, block receptors so viruses can't enter healthy cells, or lower the amount of active virus in the body.
At least three promising antivirals for covid are being tested in clinical trials, with results expected as soon as late fall or winter, said Carl Dieffenbach, director of the Division of AIDS at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who is overseeing antiviral development.
"I think that we will have answers as to what these pills are capable of within the next several months," Dieffenbach said.
They work by interfering with the virus's ability to replicate in human cells. In the case of molnupiravir, the enzyme that copies the viral genetic material is forced to make so many mistakes that the virus can't reproduce. That, in turn, reduces the patient's viral load, shortening infection time and preventing the kind of dangerous immune response that can cause serious illness or death.
So far, only one antiviral drug, remdesivir, has been approved to treat covid. But it is given intravenously to patients ill enough to be hospitalized, and is not intended for early, widespread use. By contrast, the top contenders under study can be packaged as pills.Sheahan, who also performed preclinical work on remdesivir, led an early study in mice that showed that molnupiravir could prevent early disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes covid. The formula was discovered at Emory University and later acquired by Ridgeback and Merck.Clinical trials have followed, including an early trial of 202 participants last spring that showed that molnupiravir rapidly reduced the levels of infectious virus. Merck chief executive Robert Davis said this month that the company expects data from its larger phase 3 trials in the coming weeks, with the potential to seek emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration "before year-end."Pfizer launched a combined phase 2 and 3 trial of its product Sept. 1, and Atea officials said they expect results from phase 2 and phase 3 trials later this year.If the results are positive and emergency use is granted for any product, Dieffenbach said, "distribution could begin quickly."
That would mean millions of Americans soon could have access to a daily orally administered medication, ideally a single pill, that could be taken for five to 10 days at the first confirmation of covid infection.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/27/health/co...index.html

[Guest]

horse pucky.

[Guest]

if  proves right this is great  and those  shoot mandates  can go right up bidens ass

[Guest]

Sure, if they can get something that actually works.  We're running just under 2% fatality rate so 98/100 wont die. (at least right away).  If we can see numbers of these pills working then I'm all for it. 

Now if its more horse jiz?

[Guest]

Drugmaker Merck said Friday that its experimental COVID-19 pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus and that it would soon ask health officials in the U.S. and around the world to authorize its use.If cleared, the drug would be the first pill shown to treat COVID-19, a potentially major step forward in global efforts to control the pandemic. All COVID-19 therapies now authorized in the U.S. require an IV or injection.
A pill that could be taken at home, by contrast, could keep many patients out of the hospital, easing the workload on strained health care professionals. It could also help curb outbreaks in lower-income countries that don't have access to the more expensive infusion therapies.
Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said early results showed patients who received the drug, called molnupiravir, within five days of COVID-19 symptoms had about half the rate of hospitalization and death as patients who received a dummy pill.
 The study tracked 775 adults with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who were considered higher risk for severe disease due to health problems such as obesity, diabetes or heart disease. The results have not been peer reviewed by outside experts, the usual procedure for vetting new medical research.
Among patients taking molnupiravir, 7.3% were either hospitalized or died at the end of 30 days, compared with 14.1% of those getting the dummy pill. There were no deaths in the drug group after that time period compared with eight deaths in the placebo group, according to Merck.
An independent group of medical experts monitoring the trial recommended stopping it early because the interim results were so strong. That is typical when early results show so clearly that a treatment works that there is no need for further testing before applying for authorization. Company executives said they plan to submit the data for review by the Food and Drug Administration in coming days.
Once the submission is complete, the FDA could make a decision within weeks — and, if OK'd, the drug could be on the market soon after. Merck only studied its drug in people who were not vaccinated. But FDA regulators may consider authorizing it for broader use in vaccinated patients who get COVID-19 symptoms.
"It exceeded what I thought the drug might be able to do in this clinical trial," said Dr. Dean Li, vice president of Merck Research Laboratories. "When you see a 50% reduction in hospitalization or death that's a substantial clinical impact."
Patients take eight pills per day for five days. Side effects were reported by both groups in the Merck trial, but they were slightly more common among the group that received a dummy pill. The company did not specify the problems.

Earlier study results showed the drug did not benefit patients who were already hospitalized with severe disease.
The U.S. has approved one antiviral drug, remdesivir, specifically for COVID-19, and allowed emergency use of three antibody therapies that help the immune system fight the virus. But all the drugs have to given by IV or injection at hospitals or medical clinics, and supplies have been stretched by the latest surge of the delta variant.
Health experts including the top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci have long called for a convenient pill that patients could take when COVID-19 symptoms first appear, much the way the standard flu medication Tamiflu helps fight influenza. Such medications are seen as key to controlling future waves of infection and reducing the impact of the pandemic.
Vaccines remain the most effective way of protecting against COVID-19, but effective drugs are critical given that billions of people around the world remain unvaccinated.
Merck's pill works by interfering with the coronavirus's ability to copy its genetic code and reproduce itself. It has shown similar activity against other viruses.
The U.S. government has committed to purchase 1.7 million doses of the drug if it is authorized by the FDA. Merck has said it can produce 10 million doses by the end of the year and has contracts with governments worldwide. The company has not announced prices.
Several other companies, including Pfizer and Roche, are studying similar drugs that could report results in the coming weeks and months
https://www.startribune.com/merck-says-e...600102596/

[Guest]

@AGRforever said:

Sure, if they can get something that actually works.  We're running just under 2% fatality rate so 98/100 wont die. (at least right away).  If we can see numbers of these pills working then I'm all for it. 

Now if its more horse jiz?

There is already an anti-viral pill on the market.  But it is cheap, so it can't be allowed.  Your last comment shows you have been consuming unhealthy amounts of liberal talking points.  You may need to change your diet.

[Guest]

@greediron said:

@AGRforever said:

Sure, if they can get something that actually works.  We're running just under 2% fatality rate so 98/100 wont die. (at least right away).  If we can see numbers of these pills working then I'm all for it. 

Now if its more horse jiz?

There is already an anti-viral pill on the market.  But it is cheap, so it can't be allowed.  Your last comment shows you have been consuming unhealthy amounts of liberal talking points.  You may need to change your diet.

There are lots of things that have shown to be about as effective as this pill,  but like you said,  the wrong people were making the money, or there wasnt enough money in it for those making it.  most all of these antivirals success is tied to when the drugs are administered.  most of the "studies" that I saw on HCQ were conducted once the patients were already really sick and then it was determined to not be a success.  If these other drugs were tested under the same criteria there wouldnt be anything deemed as "effective".

[Guest]

@JimmyinSD said:

@greediron said:

@AGRforever said:

Sure, if they can get something that actually works.  We're running just under 2% fatality rate so 98/100 wont die. (at least right away).  If we can see numbers of these pills working then I'm all for it. 

Now if its more horse jiz?

There is already an anti-viral pill on the market.  But it is cheap, so it can't be allowed.  Your last comment shows you have been consuming unhealthy amounts of liberal talking points.  You may need to change your diet.

There are lots of things that have shown to be about as effective as this pill,  but like you said,  the wrong people were making the money, or there wasnt enough money in it for those making it.  most all of these antivirals success is tied to when the drugs are administered.  most of the "studies" that I saw on HCQ were conducted once the patients were already really sick and then it was determined to not be a success.  If these other drugs were tested under the same criteria there wouldnt be anything deemed as "effective".

What baffles me is that those who scream the loudest about stopping the virus are the quickest to denigrate a proven, safe drug that has been around for decades.  They spew lies about it being unsafe horse medicine.  While it is, why are people taking such drastic steps?  Because through the media propaganda, politicians have restricted and even banned the safe and effective human version, which I repeat, has been around for decades and proven safe.

But now that the vaccine is labeled as approved, the mega-pharm comes out with a new pill that will treat covid.  Seems we already had one, but it wasn't making them enough money.

[Guest]

^^^^ Two hearts beating as one, one hand on the keyboard the other in a blissful fantasy of the others embrace.

[Guest]

and since al cant be an adult,  he has been removed from this thread.