Derek Lowe's latest blog post: "More small molecule clinical data against Covid-19"

[jmowreader]

https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/04/16/more-small-molecule-clinical-data-against-covid-19-as-of-april-16#comment-316629

Summary:

1. Gilead Sciences was preparing to do two remdesivir trials in China. Both have been suspended. The trials look like they would have been legit (randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled) but the inclusion criteria was steep: patients had to have no previous therapy with any other experimental agent to enroll. Which means there's no one left in China to enroll.

2. There was a multicenter hydroxychloroquine study in China. This one had a control group, but the study was open-label (meaning everyone knew who was getting what). 75 patients received standard-of-care, and 75 received standard-of-care plus HCQ. The trial's endpoints were negative test results; the two groups had "statistically indistinguishable" numbers of negative tests.

3. There's a retrospective HCQ study from France that Didier Raoult was not involved with. (Just so you know, Raoult gives everyone HCQ then brags about how well it works.) Once again, the HCQ and control groups were recovering at the same rate.

4. Another retrospective study from Guangzhou and Hong Kong. This one tested three antivirals and chloroquine against standard-of-care. No differences were seen between groups.

All this seems to point to the only proper treatment for Covid-19: forget about the coronavirus infection, treat the diseases it brings in with it, and spend your time working on vaccines.

[Mike 03]

1. Interesting.

Still, I'm curious to see if the IL-6 inhibitors help some patients.

The latest journalism about COVID-19 is painting a very different picture than some of the early reports that suggested it was specifically and only a respiratory syndrome.

[2naSalit]

2. Well, interstingly,

there seems to be a need, at least, to take a multifaceted approach since organ failure occurs rapidly after infection.

[jmowreader]

3. Yes it does

But it seems that treating the comorbidities while ignoring the coronavirus works as well as going after the viral load itself.

[2naSalit]

7. It's starting to sound that way.

I think this is the third or fourth article/interview I've observed that makes such claims. Different sources so I'm getting the sense that will be the new paradigm for treatment soon. I hope they can do something to assist in quelling the death toll. The health care workers need some psychological relief in knowing they have a process that actually works consistently.

[Yavin4]

4. Exactly.

All this seems to point to the only proper treatment for Covid-19: forget about the coronavirus infection, treat the diseases it brings in with it, and spend your time working on vaccines.

This is the strategy used for the AIDs crisis.

[LisaL]

5. What? Lots of meds have been developed for HIV.

[Yavin4]

6. Correct. Early on the emphasis was on finding a mixture of medications

that kept people alive.