Friday, April 17, 2020

As We Had Noted

In a report we issued earlier this week we discussed several therapeutic approaches. One is using an antiviral. The NIH has just issued an early report validating some of the assertions. They note:

Early treatment with the experimental antiviral drug remdesivir significantly reduced clinical disease and damage to the lungs of rhesus macaques infected with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to National Institutes of Health scientists. The study was designed to follow dosing and treatment procedures used for hospitalized COVID-19 patients being administered remdesivir in a large, multi-center, clinical trial led by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The scientists posted the work(link is external) on the preprint server bioRxiv. The findings are not yet peer-reviewed and should not be considered clinical advice, but are being shared to assist the public health response to COVID-19. A study detailing the development of the rhesus macaque model of mild- to-moderate human disease, conducted by the same team of NIAID scientists, was posted to bioRxiv(link is external) on March 21.

 We also indicated approaches dealing with the cytokine storms, infections, and blocking entry of the virus with MAbs.