General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIt's interesting that Trump only mentioned cloroquine as a possible
treatment for COVID-19 infections. He failed, however, to mention the antiviral drug, Favipiravir, that is showing very promising results in actual clinical trials in Japan.
Since coronavirus is, in fact a virus, it stands to reason that recently developed antiviral drugs, which have proven themselves in other viral infections, might be a more logical treatment than a drug developed to treat a disease caused by a parasite.
Perhaps Trump is not familiar with the trials of Favipiravir in Japan. I'm sure his medical advisers, however, have heard about it.
For more info, see:
https://www.livescience.com/flu-drug-could-treat-coronavirus.html
hlthe2b
(101,730 posts)Turbineguy
(37,212 posts)Cloroquine opens the gate to let zinc in for the kill.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)I prefer references to medical journals and the like. Do you have any links to those?
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)And both China and ROK used it as a treatment for COVID-19. Im not sure about the zinc, I believe in competes with the virus ACE2 locations.
still_one
(91,963 posts)MineralMan
(146,192 posts)Perhaps production could be stepped up quickly for it, if necessary.
I remember my wife getting shingles on her face. A quick trip to the doctor got her a prescription for acyclovir. While it didn't cure her shingles outbreak immediately, it did make it less terrible and kept it from getting to her eye.
I don't believe the fujifilm antiviral is mentioned as being curative, but it does appear to be lessening the severity and shortening the duration of the illness. Sort of like tamiflu does with influenza, if taken soon enough.
Since this Japanese antiviral has already been through other clinical trials, perhaps it could be accelerated as a treatment option for those infected with COVID-19. It might save some lives.
As far as the quinine derivative drug goes, I'm not sure how much of that is available, either, nor whether production of it could be scaled up quickly.
still_one
(91,963 posts)customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)Surely, we have a lot of possible candidates for antiviral drug therapy. Numerous studies should be simultaneously launched.
GeorgeGist
(25,294 posts)MineralMan
(146,192 posts)I think it's pronounced Favipiravir
BamaRefugee
(3,476 posts)MineralMan
(146,192 posts)and the company is donating millions of doses, so I'm not sure where the profit would be:
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/bayer-preps-u-s-donation-malaria-med-chloroquine-to-help-covid-19-fight-report