Scientist have pinned down common gene variants that are linked to the most severe cases of COVID19 and the reason why some people get very sick and others show only mild symptoms. This discovery leads to discovery of existing drugs that could be repurposed to help sick patients.
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What Does It Mean to Say a New Drug ‘Works’?
In the midst of a global crisis, scientists are trying to solve an epistemologically intractable question. Defining whether a drug “works” has never been easy, a task vexed by methodological uncertainty, commercial pressures, statistical errors, or sometimes straight-out bad practices. Facing a new disease, researchers have to rethink what success even means. Is it lower mortality? Less disability upon recovery? Faster recovery? The answers are cryptic because the questions are just educated guesses.
Cuba credits two drugs with slashing coronavirus death toll
Communist-run Cuba said this week that use of two drugs produced by its biotech industry that reduce hyper-inflammation in seriously ill COVID-19 patients has sharply curbed its coronavirus-related death toll.
Coronavirus Drug and Treatment Tracker
Below is an updated list of 19 of the most-talked-about treatments for the coronavirus. While some are accumulating evidence that they’re effective, most are still at early stages of research. We also included a warning about a few that are just bunk.
Coronavirus: Dexamethasone proves first life-saving drug
A cheap and widely available drug can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with coronavirus. The low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus, UK experts say. The drug is part of the world's biggest trial testing existing treatments to see if they also work for coronavirus.
Why are there so many drugs to kill bacteria, but so few to tackle viruses?
Why are there so few antivirals? The answer boils down to biology, and specifically the fact viruses use our own cells to multiply. This makes it hard to kill viruses without killing our own cells in the process.
What You Should Know About Remdesivir, The Potential COVID-19 Treatment
On Wednesday, researchers announced that they had “positive data” in regards to a potential treatment for COVID-19. Clinical trials for Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug remdesivir, which was developed to treat Ebola, showed a “clear-cut positive effect in diminishing time to recover,” according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Nutraceuticals have potential for boosting the type 1 interferon response to RNA viruses including influenza and coronavirus
Read about effective discoveries in the fight against the coronavirus. The talk is technical and requires knowledge of medicine and chemistry, but it also offers some remedies to lesson the effects of coronavirus like antioxidants that protect excessive lung inflammaion.