Medical Reporting/Vaccine and Treatment News

Medical Reporting and Research

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Strong recommendation to not take action or make assumptions based upon research which may be dated, changing or part of ongoing research

Vaccine Research

• 29 APR 2020 Oxford scientists say a vaccine may be widely available by September
  • Oxford COVID-19 vaccine begins human trial stage
• 23 APR 2020 COVID-19 vaccine protects monkeys from new coronavirus, Chinese biotech reports
• 21 APR 2020 WHO warns that few have developed antibodies to Covid-19 - Herd immunity hopes dealt blow by report suggesting only 2%-3% of people have been infected
• 14 APR 2020 Coronavirus vaccine unlikely to be available within next 12 months, says WHO
• 03 APR 2020 Doctor's Note: Can you catch coronavirus twice?
• 03 APR 2020 Johnson & Johnson Announces Rapid Plan For Coronavirus Vaccine
• 02 APR 2020 COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Shows Promise - 'emphasis on promise, not certain, not approved for human trials yet'
• 27 MAR 2020 How Far Are We From a Vaccine?
• 26 MAR 2020 COVID-19 Vaccine MAY be Available in the Fall

Testing News

• 22 APR 2020 Coronavirus saliva tests could be as accurate as or better than nasal swabs, Yale researchers say
• 16 APR 2020 Saliva is more sensitive for SARS-CoV-2 detection in COVID-19 patients than nasopharyngeal swabs
• 16 APR 2020 A New Statistic Reveals Why America’s COVID-19 Numbers Are Flat - Few figures tell you anything useful about how the coronavirus has spread through the U.S. Here’s one that does.
• 16 APR 2020 New COVID-19 test could give results in under 1 hour
• 16 APR 2020 Emory develops diagnostic antibody blood test to determine antibody-responses to COVID-19
• 16 APR 2020 Antibody Test, Seen as Key to Reopening Country, Does Not Yet Deliver - The tests, many made in China without F.D.A. approval, are often inaccurate. Some doctors are misusing them. The rollout is nowhere close to the demand.
• 14 APR 2020 NIH Is Testing People for Covid-19 Antibodies—and Looking for Volunteers
• 08 APR 2020 Atlanta company creates saliva-based COVID-19 test: BioIQ

Treatment News

• 29 APR 2020 FDA will reportedly authorize use of remdesivir for Covid-19 after trial shows 'positive effect' on recovery time - see also counterpoint: Remdesivir in adults with severe COVID-19: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial
  • Gilead CEO: We’re going to make sure that access is not an issue with remdesivir
  • Conflicting Remdesivir Trial Results Released; Experts Urge More Research
• 29 APR 2020 Dr. Anthony Fauci says Gilead’s remdesivir will set a new ‘standard of care’ for coronavirus treatment
  • White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that data from a coronavirus drug trial testing Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug remdesivir showed “quite good news” and sets a new standard of care for Covid-19 patients.

Fauci said the median time of recovery for patients taking the drug was 11 days, compared with 15 days in the placebo group. The results suggested a survival benefit, with a mortality rate of 8% for the group receiving remdesivir versus 11.6% for the placebo group, according to a statement from the National Institutes of Health released later Wednesday.

• 25 APR 2020 Antiparasitic drug ivermectin reduces coronavirus fatality rate: American researchers
• 22 APR 2020 THIS NATIONAL CLINICAL TRIAL AIMS TO IDENTIFY TREATMENTS THAT MAY BE BENEFICIAL FOR ADULTS HOSPITALISED WITH CONFIRMED COVID-19
• 22 APR 2020 Alarmed as COVID patients' blood thickened, New York doctors try new treatments
• 22 APR 2020 Block COVID-19 from infecting humans? University of Louisville touts a ‘breakthrough’
• 22 APR 2020 It’s Not Too Late to Go on Offense Against the Coronavirus
• 16 APR 2020 Early peek at data on Gilead coronavirus drug suggests patients are responding to treatment
• 15 APR 2020 First Arizona patient on ventilator survives COVID-19 with rare blood treatment
• 10 APR 2020 France Reports Heart Incidents Linked to Drug Promoted by Trump
• 09 APR 2020 Over 80pct of COVID Patients Placed on Ventilators in New York City Have Died
• 08 APR 2020 Israeli COVID-19 treatment shows 100pct survival rate - preliminary data
• 07 APR 2020 eidd2801_fda/index.html FDA: Human trials can begin for Emory COVID-19 antiviral
• 04 APR 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic Has Only Just Begun
• 26 MAR 2020 ExThera’s Affinity Blood Filter Is Used to Treat COVID-19 Patients
• 25 MAR 2020 Sweden bucks global trend with experimental virus strategy
• 24 MAR 2020 Mount Sinai to Begin the Transfer of COVID-19 Antibodies into Critically Ill Patients - The Mount Sinai Health System this week plans to initiate a procedure known as plasmapheresis, where the antibodies from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 will be transferred into critically ill patients with the disease, with the expectation that the antibodies will neutralize it.
• 22 MAR 2020 WHO launches global megatrial of the four most promising coronavirus treatments

Treatment & COVID-19 Co-Morbidities

• 15 APR 2020 Antihypertensive & COVID-19: The Verdict of Recent Academic Paper
• 12 APR 2020 Meta-Analyses Reveal Who Should Be More Cautious of COVID-19

Dangerous Misinformation perpetuated by the Trmp Administration

• 23 APR 2020 “Really Want to Flood NY and NJ”: Internal Documents Reveal Team Trump’s Chloroquine Master Plan
• 20 APR 2020 Health Dept. Official Says Doubts on Hydroxychloroquine Led to His Ouster
• 20 APR 2020 More deaths, no benefit from malaria drug in VA virus study - There were more deaths among those given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care, researchers reported.
• 13 APR 2020 Study to evaluate antidepressant as potential COVID-19 treatment - Drug fluvoxamine may help prevent life-threatening ‘cytokine storm’
• 10 APR 2020 FDA Letter to Stakeholders: Do Not Use Ivermectin Intended for Animals as Treatment for COVID-19 in Humans
• 09 APR 2020 NEWSTwo potential COVID-19 treatments could be deadly when combined with metformin
  • Two drugs which have been linked with treating coronavirus could be deadly when combined with metformin, researchers have said.
  • Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and chloroquine (CQ) are usually used to treat malaria and autoimmune diseases, and in America the Food and Drug Administration has authorised the two medications to be used in people in hospital with COVID-19.
    
  • The drugs have also shown promising outcomes in helping to treat certain cancers, but recent studies have also found combining these medications with metformin, sold as Glucophage, could be fatal.
  • A study which used mice to test the outcome of all three drugs, showed between 30% and 40% of the animals died.
• 03 APR 2020 A small trial finds that hydroxychloroquine is not effective for treating coronavirus