15 ms·

COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator

795 points by sandGorgon 7y ago

philipn 7y ago
Edit: contact made, thank you! If anyone is reading this with connections to the Gates Foundation: Please contact Dr. Robert Kruse at John Hopkins. https://twitter.com/RobertLKruse https://twitter.com/RobertLKruse. I have been trying to get in touch with people at Gates. This announcement unfortunately features no contact email address :( Dr. Kruse is developing an extremely promising therapeutic, ACE2-fc, which will both neutralize the virus and treat the symptoms of the disease. It has been shown to work in vitro; variants have been tested in animals models; and its been through Phase II human trials for a different indication. A variant of the therapy, soluble ACE2, is being trialed in humans now in China. Details on the approach can be found in his paper here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029759/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029759/ see "ACE2 immunoadhesin strategy"
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- pkaye 7y ago
  For you know if the ACE2 genes mentioned with relation to coronavirus have anything to do with ACE inhibitors and ARB inhibitors?
  - wbl 7y ago
    ACE is the enzyme that ACE inhibitors inhibit. Why is it expressed in the lungs? I have no clue.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - epmaybe 7y ago
      That's where Angiotensin I (ACE = Angiotensin Converting Enzyme) is converted to Angiotensin II, which acts on tons of blood vessels to increase blood pressure. That's essentially why ACE inhibitors have a blood pressure effect. On top of that, Bradykinin is an inflammatory mediator that is degraded by ACE. It's heavily implicated in the side effect ACE inhibitors have of dry cough.
      - wbl 7y ago
        But why the lungs and not the liver?
        epmaybe 7y ago
        Now that is a very interesting question! Unfortunately, I don't think that we have a complete answer. A couple of notes, that perhaps can provide some perspective: 1. lungs are highly vascularised areas with a large amount of vascular endothelium, making them a great location to express ACE if you want to convert as much angiotensin I as you can in the space of a heartbeat (which you'd like to do if your blood pressure dropped, for example). 2. ACE is not specific for angiotensin, it acts on a variety of peptides. Bradykinin is a good example as it can provide more perspective on why ACE is expressed mainly in lung tissue. Bradykinin acts to contract smooth muscle in your airways. Thus, degrading bradykinin via ACE is a good way to improve your breathing.
  - jokowueu 7y ago
    Your are correct It's related to ACE inhibitors .
  - philipn 7y ago
    It is related, but it's pretty complicated. For some information on this and the potential relationship, see my twitter account: https://twitter.com/__philipn__ https://twitter.com/__philipn__
  - forkexec 7y ago
    The latest is that ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are both needed to infect humans. There are already two compounds identified to block these pathways, one of which is already a medication used in Japan. Both are very safe with huge LD50's.
    - pkaye 7y ago
      So would there be an additional risks from coronavirus to those taking ACE or ARB inhibitors?
      - ignoramous 7y ago
        See a recent albeit heated discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22500063 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22500063
  - dreamcompiler 7y ago
    IIRC, conventional ACE inhibitors don't inhibit ACE2, which would be be needed to fight COVID-19.
  - fxtentacle 7y ago
    Apparently, a serine protease inhibitor works. I didn't hear anything about regular ace inhibitors. https://www.dpz.eu/en/home/single-view/news/die-vermehrung-von-sars-coronavirus-2-im-menschen-verhindern.html https://www.dpz.eu/en/home/single-view/news/die-vermehrung-v...
  - delhanty 7y ago
    This may be relevant: there's a recent (3rd March) hypothesis due to Rami Sommerstein from Department of Infectious Diseases, Bern University Hospital [0] that ACE inhibitors are a potential risk factor for fatal Covid-19 in those patients taking ACE inhibitors for hypertension/diabetes/cardiovascular disease: >The largest Chinese study with 44,672 confirmed cases of Covid-19 shows a high overall case fatality rate (CFR) of 2.3% [2]. Important co-morbidities are hypertension (CFR 6.0%), diabetes (CFR 7.3%), cardiovascular disease (CFR 10.5%) and age >70 (CFR 10.2%) [2]. Similar co-morbidities were noted for the SARS outbreak in 2003. > ... >On the one hand, it has been shown that the Covid-19 agent (also known as SARS-CoV-2), uses the SARS-COV receptor angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) 2 for entry into target cells [4]. The interface between ACE2 and the viral spike protein SARS-S has been elucidated and the efficiency of ACE2 usage was found to be a key determinant of SARS-CoV transmissibility [4]. > >On the other hand, it could be shown in animal experiments that both the ACE-inhibitor lisinopril and the angiotensin-receptor blocker losartan can significantly increase mRNA expression of cardiac ACE2 (5-fold and 3-fold, respectively) [5]. Further, losartan also significantly increases cardiac ACE2 activity [5]. Edit: thank you philipn for your twitter link. [0] https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m810/rr-2 https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m810/rr-2
    - philipn 7y ago
      Please see my twitter account for lots on this. I'm in contact with a bunch of top researchers on this topic (renin-angiotensin system; ACE2/Ang 1-7/Mas axis; ARB usage for viral diseases) and will be posting a summary update soon: https://twitter.com/__philipn__/status/1235756671852589056 https://twitter.com/__philipn__/status/1235756671852589056 It may be the other way around: ACEi/ARB may be protective. HTN without ACEi/ARB would be non-protective, potentially so much so that it skews the group fatality numbers. This is because people with HTN have a different renin-angiotensin system profile: more AT1R, less AT2R, more ACE, potentially less ACE2. This is being looked at now. But the key is that in every study ever done on viral lung disease, etc, AT1R blockade was highly beneficial, and we know that ACE2-knockout basically screws up lungs, makes viral lung disease way worse, etc. Please see my twitter posts. The virus eats up ACE2, downregulating it as it binds. This would have delirious effects. Check out the linked "essential reading" twitter post. Will be posting a summary to my twitter soon.
- justAnotherNET 7y ago
  If this makes a difference, please include me in the screenshot senpai
- jokowueu 7y ago
  Do you know of any one site that provides a comprehensive list of all the studies/drugs regarding covid-19 ?
  - philipn 7y ago
    List of repurposed drugs (not comprehensive) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41587-020-00003-1 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41587-020-00003-1 Review of small molecule therapies (not comprehensive): https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/03/06/covid-19-small-molecule-therapies-reviewed https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/03/06/co...
- sandGorgon 7y ago
  you have no idea how happy this makes me (I'm the original OP). I think this is the best thing i achieved all year.
  - simonebrunozzi 7y ago
    You should feel proud. Thanks!
- jacobush 7y ago
  Depending on how things turn out in the end, this may be the most important thing yCombinator has achieved, ever.
  - onion2k 7y ago
    We'll never know. If it works then Covid-19 will be a footnote in history, a temporary problem that was quickly solved. We won't know if it would have become an extinction-threatening event or if it would have fizzled out on it's own, or anything in between. If it doesn't work then YC's input wasn't important and didn't help.
    - slimed 7y ago
      This take is too pessimistic. Eventually we will have enough data to project what could have happened without treatments like this. We will know the rate of infection, the rate of death without treatment, etc. There will be many different groups globally trying to find out these answers and apply them to preventing future pandemics.
  - cmauniada 7y ago
    I mean, I get where you are coming from but it still is a huge stretch to make a blanket statement like that.
- dharma1 7y ago
  edit: looks like it is. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029759/#ref-60 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029759/#ref-60 Is this the soluble ACE2 mentioned? https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/ubc-apeiron-biologics-covid-19-trial/ https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/ubc-apeiron-biologi... https://pipelinereview.com/index.php/2020022673884/Proteins-and-Peptides/APEIRONs-respiratory-drug-product-to-start-pilot-clinical-trial-to-treat-coronavirus-disease-COVID-19-in-China.html https://pipelinereview.com/index.php/2020022673884/Proteins-... https://connect.myesr.org/course/novel-coronavirus-outbreak-experience-and-challenges-in-imaging-and-beyond/ https://connect.myesr.org/course/novel-coronavirus-outbreak-... It was initially discovered and developed during the SARS epidemic - https://www.nature.com/articles/nm1267 https://www.nature.com/articles/nm1267
- davidw 7y ago
  Work like this is another reason to shut everything non-essential the hell down. It gives people time to do important work that could save lives. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-cancel-everything/607675/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronaviru...
- martyvis 7y ago
  Don't researchers like this just go to WHO for support and assistance? This is a list of candidate vaccines. https://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/key-action/list-of-candidate-vaccines-developed-against-sars.pdf https://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/key-action/l...
- iskander 7y ago
  I just started working on the complementary side of the spike RBD-ACE2 interaction, making an aerosol of RBD peptide fragments to outcompete the virus for entry. This work is based on B-cell epitope mapping of SARS patients and subsequent identification of ACE2 binding peptides like: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354211005481 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016635421... I'm the "dry lab" side of this project -- looking for peptide candidates. My other collaborators at UNC are going to do formulate the aerosol and test for safety in mice. Normally this would be a very early stage in drug development, but it seems like we have to move quickly. So similar shout out to the Gates Foundation folks -- if you're interested in this approach email alex.rubinsteyn@unc.edu
- bionhoward 7y ago
  I’m not a doctor, but fusing a complement activator to a natural enzyme and megadosing it is a horrible idea because it’s gonna trigger complement activation in the context of a self protein, which could cause major autoimmunity, and ACE2 overload is gonna overactivate the angiotensin-aldosterone axis and deactivate renin via negative feedback, screw up your electrolytes which could cause arrhythmias, and give you high blood pressure. To avoid side effects, a therapy ought to be as orthogonal as possible to natural systems. A high dose of a hormone activator smushed together with an immune activator is definitely not orthogonal to natural systems. More useful to focus on genomic smart bombs like CRISPR Cas13 ( cough, https://github.com/bionicles/coronavirus https://github.com/bionicles/coronavirus ) or RNAi because they’re way, way, way, less likely to have side effects, they can last forever, can easily be retargeted to future germs hella quick, etc etc
tus88 7y ago
Good news.
notaharvardmba 7y ago
EIDD-2801 from DRIVE/Emory University is also looking extremely promising. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31578288 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31578288 They have a GoFundMe also to I guess try to get things ramped up: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/end-pandemics-now https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/end-pandemics-now
- nopinsight 7y ago
  This needs to be its own post and shared as much as possible. The above may yield a pill that patients can take at home, reducing further spread of infections that can easily occur in clinical settings. Without such a pill, hospital overflow will occur in any area with more than a few thousand cases. And there will be 100s-1000s of cities worldwide that medical resources could be overwhelmed within a few months. We need to explore all avenues now. In only 3-4 months, there will be 100,000s of deaths worldwide, if an effective treatment that can be administered outside of hospital settings is not available.
  - nopinsight 7y ago
    For those who disagree, please study the coronavirus growth rate when no serious containment measure is implemented then try to provide evidence to the contrary (ie, either containment measures will be sufficient in most countries, or that my predictions above are flawed somehow.) A scientist recently presented at the AHA meeting with these bullet points: “- 4.8 million hospitalizations associated with the novel coronavirus - 96 million cases overall in the US - 480,000 deaths - Overall, the slide points out that hospitals should prepare for an impact to the system that's 10 times a severe flu season.” The figures are just for the US, not the world. https://www.businessinsider.com/presentation-us-hospitals-preparing-for-millions-of-hospitalizations-2020-3 https://www.businessinsider.com/presentation-us-hospitals-pr...
b34r 7y ago
“ Epidemics introduce a paradox to the world. Viruses like COVID-19 spread rapidly but developing vaccines and treatments to stop them moves slowly.” That’s not what a paradox is... sigh.
- farseer 7y ago
  Don't know why you are being down voted. This is hard scientific and economic reality, not a paradox.
  - hellllllllooo 7y ago
    Because it's irrelevant pedantry?
    - pasquinelli 7y ago
      Yeah, but irrelevant pedentry doesn't always get downvotes.
- uxcolumbo 7y ago
  RE: Viruses like COVID-19 Not trying to nitpick, but isn't the virus called SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 is the illness?
  - 013 7y ago
    Yes, COVID-19 is the disease caused by the virus, SARS-CoV-2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndr... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus_disease_2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus_disease_2019
jokowueu 7y ago
"The proposal is a biologic that blocks 2019-nCoV entry using a soluble version of the viral receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), fused to an immunoglobulin Fc domain (ACE2-Fc), providing a neutralizing antibody with maximal breath to avoid any viral escape, while also helping to recruit the immune system to build lasting immunity. The ACE2-Fc therapy would also supplement decreased ACE2 levels in the lungs during infection, thereby directly treating acute respiratory distress pathophysiology as a third mechanism of action."
narrator 7y ago
How about confirming that Chloroquine works?[1] Yeah, it's a boring old out of patent drug. New uses for out of patent synthetic drugs is like the most unsexy thing in all of medicine. Even herbal cures get more respect, because they are from mother earth. [1]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354220301145 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016635422...
- jmnicolas 7y ago
  This makes no sense to me : malaria is due to a bacteria and COVID19 is a virus, why choloroquine would work on both ?
  - jansan 7y ago
    Read the paper. They tried it on many viruses, but it had no effect, except for Hepatitis C, where it had a mild effect. Now a first small study indicates that it may be highly effective for the treatment of COVID-19. Just a try-and-error process I guess, of all available tools use the one that works best.
  - pasquinelli 7y ago
    If it helps, malaria is caused by a single celled parasite that isn't a bacterium. Though i don't know why that would help. Choloroquine is also used for autoimmune disease, which also doesn't make sense. Of course none of any of this makes sense to me because i don't know anything about it.
    - easymodex 7y ago
      From what i understand, one of the ways COVID-19 kills is by triggering an extreme autoimmune reaction which attacks the lungs (see: Cytokine storm).
  - easytiger 7y ago
    The side effects of choloroquine will make you forget about the very mild flu like illness you just contracted.
deleted 7y ago
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starpilot 7y ago
does this use nodejs?
GreaterFool 7y ago
Does one acquire immunity after going through CoV infection? What about SARS/MERS? If I understand correctly there are many strains of influenza and they mutate. That's why new vaccines are needed. What about SARS/MERS? Did they mutate too?
- fyp 7y ago
  Yes they do mutate and there are really pretty graphs for it: https://nextstrain.org/ncov https://nextstrain.org/ncov
  - hanniabu 7y ago
    Wow those are nice graphs. I thought there were only 2 strains of the virus reported so far, but this seems to indicate many more, unless I'm confusing 'strains' with a better suited word like 'variations' or something. Idk, this isn't my forte but would appreciate correcting.
    - virusduck 7y ago
      These are variants sequenced from individuals. There so far is very little diversity in these sequences. The branch lengths are very short. There is isn't anything yet to describe any qualitative difference.
      - hanniabu 7y ago
        The amount of variations are concerning. Seems it'd be likely to mutate into a different strain. If that happened it would be ravaging. People that have already gotten sick and have lung damage could potentially catch the new strain and be even more at risk since the weaker. It'd be like the 1918 influenza pandemic where the first wave wasn't that bad relatively but the subsequent waves did a lot of damage.
- franga2000 7y ago
  There have been at least two cases of a second infection, and that's information from a week ago. I don't know what the consensus is, but immunity is not something we should count on.
avocado4 7y ago
CDC should require every lab and hospital screening for COVID19 to send lung CT and lab data to the government, and release it as a public dataset for AI developers to build screening models.
- hef19898 7y ago
  No, they should not. What they could do, so, would be to share the raw data with external bodies that have the proper domain knowledge and certification to actually work with it.
- pishpash 7y ago
  CDC too slow, non-reviewed papers already out: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2002.09334.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/2002.09334.pdf https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.25.20021568v2 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.25.20021568v...
  - hef19898 7y ago
    Non-reviewed being the key here.
SonOfLilit 7y ago
Please fund clinical trials of zinc as COVID cure/statistical preventative: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/02/coronavirus-links-speculation-open-thread/#comment-859920 https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/02/coronavirus-links-spec...
deleted 7y ago
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f-robinhood 7y ago
Hopefully the Wuhan Institute of Virology--a mere 8 miles away from the wet market thought to be the epicenter of the outbreak--can help, since they've been studying similar viral strains for years: >https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4810638/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4810638/ (2016) We report the isolation and characterization of a novel bat coronavirus which is much closer to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in genomic sequence than others previously reported, particularly in its S gene. Cell entry and susceptibility studies indicated that this virus can use ACE2 as a receptor and infect animal and human cell lines. Our results provide further evidence of the bat origin of the SARS-CoV and highlight the likelihood of future bat coronavirus emergence in humans. Shi Zheng-Li's publication history is most interesting: >https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=shi,%20zheng%20li https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=shi,%20zheng%20li
mothsonasloth 7y ago
Funding and government initiatives aside, is there any tech platforms that facilitate scientific collaboration? It mostly seems to be just dropbox equivalents that let you drag and drop test results and PDFs into shareable folders.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  WWW: http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html Though specific discussion of essential useful features and shortcomings of the basic concept might be helpful.
deleted 7y ago
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JonathanFly 7y ago
The Gates Foundation was on this early: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2020/01/Gates-Foundation-Commits-10-Million-to-Global-Response-to-2019-nCOV https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/... https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2020/02/Bill-and-Melinda-Gates-Foundation-Dedicates-Additional-Funding-to-the-Novel-Coronavirus-Response https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/... >The foundation will provide up to $100 million to improve detection, isolation and treatment efforts; protect at-risk populations in Africa and South Asia; and accelerate the development of vaccines, drugs and diagnostics. That early investment is going to be so valuable. It's not so easy to get those six weeks back by spending 10x the amount the later.
finneganscat 7y ago
So will lisinopril help, Burt, or do nothing? My girlfriend has heart issues from being born with half chambers of her heart not working (tetralogy of fallot). She also has pulmonary hypertension. She just started metoprolol for irregular heartbeat. She has been on lisinopril for preventive measures most of her life. I’m worried for her. She’s only 35, but with her health issues, it’s quite stressful. I’m pretty sure her cardio won’t say to change anything, but I’d like to know if her ACE inhibitor will increase ACE2 and make things worse.
temptemptemp111 7y ago
Gates Foundation is a dysgenics program and this should not be hard for anyone who is reasonable to figure out.
christkv 7y ago
This study looks interesting https://pharmaphorum.com/news/china-backs-roches-actemra-to-fight-coronavirus-complications/ https://pharmaphorum.com/news/china-backs-roches-actemra-to-... Actemra is a biologic approved in 2010 in the US for rheumatoid arthritis and tones down immune responses by inhibiting interleukin 6 (IL-6). Basically it turns down the effect called a cytokine storm which causes your own immune system to attack your lungs. This kills a lot of people. Also take Vitamin D3 (1000 IU a day) it's proven to help lessen respiratory illness if you catch the virus.
dorfsmay 7y ago
I imagine they are already in contact, given they are in the same state, but just in case: https://www.chulab.org/announcements https://www.chulab.org/announcements https://twitter.com/HelenChuMD/status/1235339042889359361 https://twitter.com/HelenChuMD/status/1235339042889359361
jonnycomputer 7y ago
remdesivir https://angrybearblog.com/2020/03/novel-coronavirus-and-better-unsafe-than-sorry.html https://angrybearblog.com/2020/03/novel-coronavirus-and-bett...
known 7y ago
Combination lopinavir and ritonavir is used to treat COVID-19 in India/Thailand https://www.telegraphindia.com/health/anti-hiv-drugs-given-to-coronavirus-affected-elderly-italian-couple-in-jaipur/cid/1752505 https://www.telegraphindia.com/health/anti-hiv-drugs-given-t...
lqet 7y ago
Meanwhile, doctors in Germany begin to build their own protective suits because professional ones are hard to get: https://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/0a/f1/b2/8f/183612047-h-720.jpg https://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/0a/f1/b2/8f/183612047-... https://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/0a/f1/b2/8a/183612042-h-720.jpg https://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/0a/f1/b2/8a/183612042-...
- hef19898 7y ago
  Proof one doctor build his own PTE suit. No proof they aren't available per se.
aazaa 7y ago
I'm seeing a lot of unwarranted conclusions in this thread. In vitro work usually goes fast in drug development. The painfully slow process is human testing. The article says nothing about shortening the time from in vitro discovery to first use in humans. As far as I can tell, it just promises $125 million for early stage work. That's a lot of money, but a drop in the bucket by drug development standards. Good to know the effort is being made, just keep some perspective.
- zerkten 7y ago
  Part of the problem is that most people know very little about how drugs are developed, but they form a type of connection because they know the Gates Foundation. My hope is people gain a deeper appreciation of what's involved across many of these threads, but I feel like the opportunity will be missed.
chrstphrhrt 7y ago
Great to see people rallying around possible solutions and spreading the info. Personal anecdote, I was looking up whether to stop occasional cannabis usage as a precaution for a while because it has been labelled an immunosuppressant and an immunomodulator. I don't understand enough of the science to decide, so I'm stopping, but what I saw in those papers suggested that it is good at preventing autoimmune diseases from getting out of hand. Any expert knowledge/opinion very welcome, as many people have access to this drug already.
- bionhoward 7y ago
  The biggest problem about cannabis re: covid19 is if you smoke it, it’s gonna impair the cilia which help clean out your lungs, also you’re putting your lips on some dirty piece (especially bad if shared between multiple people as one person being exposed equals everyone else sharing the piece gets exposed) Definitely avoid combustion with shared bongs. If we might get sick with something that’s gonna impair our lungs, we ought to take action to increase lung function e.g. VO2Max (lactate threshold training / HIIT / Lung muscle exercises with incentive spirometers OR IMST devices) Not sure about the viral implications of systems biology of immune effects of cannabis, but it’s an interesting topic
saadalem 7y ago
So I have a weird hobby of reading case studies, and today my curiosity lead me to wonder why colonoscopy doctors do not use UVC... (UVC is a specific wavelength of light of the UV band - think UV lights in clubs - it kills bacteria and is now used in hospitals to sterilize equipment ) ...to cleanse the colon of both good and bad bacteria in the intestines in order to immediately cure patients with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and Chrons, which are both caused by harmful gut bacteria that even the best probiotics unfortunately do not successfully treat. (Which lead me down the rabbit hole...) If you want to be as sick to your stomach as I am, here is the truth and I am happy to source over 8 case studies out of dozens on the subject which all say the same thing, UVC kills cancer cells as well as COVID-19 and also strong ionized oxygen can kill any virus on contact instantly. Those tiny tentacles of Covid 19 virus will be neutralized in a fraction of a second in contact with the ionized oxygen.
- vcanales 7y ago
  Why “threaten” with sources instead of just posting them?
- Blahah 7y ago
  By "over 8" do you mean 9? Please do provide those sources.
- objclxt 7y ago
  > UVC kills cancer cells as well as COVID-19 It kills any cell, it's not discriminatory. Oh, and UV-C is carcinogenic. Once you understand that you might appreciate why we don't just shove a UV light up a colon.
  - javajosh 7y ago
    Well, everything is carcinogenic. Given that sunlight has plenty of UV-C, it's probably okay to expose tissues to it briefly. (Of course, this is one of those treatments that definitely needs careful study.)
    - 7y ago
epmaybe 7y ago
While low yield, it would be interesting to look at fast-tracked whole genome data from infected patients, and see if there are any SNPs or mutations that could put you at higher risk for mortality.
victor106 7y ago
> And in 2017, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was created with nearly $650 million from Germany, Japan, Norway, Wellcome, and our foundation. Since then, others have come on board, including the UK, Canada, Ethiopia, Australia, Belgium, and the European Commission, to dramatically reduce the time it takes to develop vaccines for emerging epidemics, and ensure they are accessible, available, and affordable. Such a shame that the US is not on that list of countries.
classics2 7y ago
Won’t every person on earth in contact with other humans already be either immune by exposure or dead within 6 months?
dreichel 7y ago
Can someone please weigh in and say if someone who takes Losartan should switch to something else at this time? I am currently on that med and I am panicking after reading several articles. Thank you.
dreichel 7y ago
Can someone please explain if I am currently taking Losartan should I switch to something else? I keep reading conflicting articles. Some say it could be a benefit and actually used in treatment of covid 19. But other articles are saying the opposite. Thank you.

795 points by sandGorgon 7y ago

Edit: contact made, thank you! If anyone is reading this with connections to the Gates Foundation: Please contact Dr. Robert Kruse at John Hopkins. https://twitter.com/RobertLKruse https://twitter.com/RobertLKruse. I have been trying to get in touch with people at Gates. This announcement unfortunately features no contact email address :( Dr. Kruse is developing an extremely promising therapeutic, ACE2-fc, which will both neutralize the virus and treat the symptoms of the disease. It has been shown to work in vitro; variants have been tested in animals models; and its been through Phase II human trials for a different indication. A variant of the therapy, soluble ACE2, is being trialed in humans now in China. Details on the approach can be found in his paper here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029759/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029759/ see "ACE2 immunoadhesin strategy"

deleted 7y ago
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pkaye 7y ago
For you know if the ACE2 genes mentioned with relation to coronavirus have anything to do with ACE inhibitors and ARB inhibitors?
- wbl 7y ago
  ACE is the enzyme that ACE inhibitors inhibit. Why is it expressed in the lungs? I have no clue.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - epmaybe 7y ago
    That's where Angiotensin I (ACE = Angiotensin Converting Enzyme) is converted to Angiotensin II, which acts on tons of blood vessels to increase blood pressure. That's essentially why ACE inhibitors have a blood pressure effect. On top of that, Bradykinin is an inflammatory mediator that is degraded by ACE. It's heavily implicated in the side effect ACE inhibitors have of dry cough.
    - wbl 7y ago
      But why the lungs and not the liver?
      - epmaybe 7y ago
        Now that is a very interesting question! Unfortunately, I don't think that we have a complete answer. A couple of notes, that perhaps can provide some perspective: 1. lungs are highly vascularised areas with a large amount of vascular endothelium, making them a great location to express ACE if you want to convert as much angiotensin I as you can in the space of a heartbeat (which you'd like to do if your blood pressure dropped, for example). 2. ACE is not specific for angiotensin, it acts on a variety of peptides. Bradykinin is a good example as it can provide more perspective on why ACE is expressed mainly in lung tissue. Bradykinin acts to contract smooth muscle in your airways. Thus, degrading bradykinin via ACE is a good way to improve your breathing.
- jokowueu 7y ago
  Your are correct It's related to ACE inhibitors .
- philipn 7y ago
  It is related, but it's pretty complicated. For some information on this and the potential relationship, see my twitter account: https://twitter.com/__philipn__ https://twitter.com/__philipn__
- forkexec 7y ago
  The latest is that ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are both needed to infect humans. There are already two compounds identified to block these pathways, one of which is already a medication used in Japan. Both are very safe with huge LD50's.
  - pkaye 7y ago
    So would there be an additional risks from coronavirus to those taking ACE or ARB inhibitors?
    - ignoramous 7y ago
      See a recent albeit heated discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22500063 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22500063
- dreamcompiler 7y ago
  IIRC, conventional ACE inhibitors don't inhibit ACE2, which would be be needed to fight COVID-19.
- fxtentacle 7y ago
  Apparently, a serine protease inhibitor works. I didn't hear anything about regular ace inhibitors. https://www.dpz.eu/en/home/single-view/news/die-vermehrung-von-sars-coronavirus-2-im-menschen-verhindern.html https://www.dpz.eu/en/home/single-view/news/die-vermehrung-v...
- delhanty 7y ago
  This may be relevant: there's a recent (3rd March) hypothesis due to Rami Sommerstein from Department of Infectious Diseases, Bern University Hospital [0] that ACE inhibitors are a potential risk factor for fatal Covid-19 in those patients taking ACE inhibitors for hypertension/diabetes/cardiovascular disease: >The largest Chinese study with 44,672 confirmed cases of Covid-19 shows a high overall case fatality rate (CFR) of 2.3% [2]. Important co-morbidities are hypertension (CFR 6.0%), diabetes (CFR 7.3%), cardiovascular disease (CFR 10.5%) and age >70 (CFR 10.2%) [2]. Similar co-morbidities were noted for the SARS outbreak in 2003. > ... >On the one hand, it has been shown that the Covid-19 agent (also known as SARS-CoV-2), uses the SARS-COV receptor angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) 2 for entry into target cells [4]. The interface between ACE2 and the viral spike protein SARS-S has been elucidated and the efficiency of ACE2 usage was found to be a key determinant of SARS-CoV transmissibility [4]. > >On the other hand, it could be shown in animal experiments that both the ACE-inhibitor lisinopril and the angiotensin-receptor blocker losartan can significantly increase mRNA expression of cardiac ACE2 (5-fold and 3-fold, respectively) [5]. Further, losartan also significantly increases cardiac ACE2 activity [5]. Edit: thank you philipn for your twitter link. [0] https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m810/rr-2 https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m810/rr-2
  - philipn 7y ago
    Please see my twitter account for lots on this. I'm in contact with a bunch of top researchers on this topic (renin-angiotensin system; ACE2/Ang 1-7/Mas axis; ARB usage for viral diseases) and will be posting a summary update soon: https://twitter.com/__philipn__/status/1235756671852589056 https://twitter.com/__philipn__/status/1235756671852589056 It may be the other way around: ACEi/ARB may be protective. HTN without ACEi/ARB would be non-protective, potentially so much so that it skews the group fatality numbers. This is because people with HTN have a different renin-angiotensin system profile: more AT1R, less AT2R, more ACE, potentially less ACE2. This is being looked at now. But the key is that in every study ever done on viral lung disease, etc, AT1R blockade was highly beneficial, and we know that ACE2-knockout basically screws up lungs, makes viral lung disease way worse, etc. Please see my twitter posts. The virus eats up ACE2, downregulating it as it binds. This would have delirious effects. Check out the linked "essential reading" twitter post. Will be posting a summary to my twitter soon.
justAnotherNET 7y ago
If this makes a difference, please include me in the screenshot senpai
jokowueu 7y ago
Do you know of any one site that provides a comprehensive list of all the studies/drugs regarding covid-19 ?
- philipn 7y ago
  List of repurposed drugs (not comprehensive) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41587-020-00003-1 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41587-020-00003-1 Review of small molecule therapies (not comprehensive): https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/03/06/covid-19-small-molecule-therapies-reviewed https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/03/06/co...
sandGorgon 7y ago
you have no idea how happy this makes me (I'm the original OP). I think this is the best thing i achieved all year.
- simonebrunozzi 7y ago
  You should feel proud. Thanks!
jacobush 7y ago
Depending on how things turn out in the end, this may be the most important thing yCombinator has achieved, ever.
- onion2k 7y ago
  We'll never know. If it works then Covid-19 will be a footnote in history, a temporary problem that was quickly solved. We won't know if it would have become an extinction-threatening event or if it would have fizzled out on it's own, or anything in between. If it doesn't work then YC's input wasn't important and didn't help.
  - slimed 7y ago
    This take is too pessimistic. Eventually we will have enough data to project what could have happened without treatments like this. We will know the rate of infection, the rate of death without treatment, etc. There will be many different groups globally trying to find out these answers and apply them to preventing future pandemics.
- cmauniada 7y ago
  I mean, I get where you are coming from but it still is a huge stretch to make a blanket statement like that.
dharma1 7y ago
edit: looks like it is. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029759/#ref-60 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029759/#ref-60 Is this the soluble ACE2 mentioned? https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/ubc-apeiron-biologics-covid-19-trial/ https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/ubc-apeiron-biologi... https://pipelinereview.com/index.php/2020022673884/Proteins-and-Peptides/APEIRONs-respiratory-drug-product-to-start-pilot-clinical-trial-to-treat-coronavirus-disease-COVID-19-in-China.html https://pipelinereview.com/index.php/2020022673884/Proteins-... https://connect.myesr.org/course/novel-coronavirus-outbreak-experience-and-challenges-in-imaging-and-beyond/ https://connect.myesr.org/course/novel-coronavirus-outbreak-... It was initially discovered and developed during the SARS epidemic - https://www.nature.com/articles/nm1267 https://www.nature.com/articles/nm1267
davidw 7y ago
Work like this is another reason to shut everything non-essential the hell down. It gives people time to do important work that could save lives. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-cancel-everything/607675/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronaviru...
martyvis 7y ago
Don't researchers like this just go to WHO for support and assistance? This is a list of candidate vaccines. https://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/key-action/list-of-candidate-vaccines-developed-against-sars.pdf https://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/key-action/l...
iskander 7y ago
I just started working on the complementary side of the spike RBD-ACE2 interaction, making an aerosol of RBD peptide fragments to outcompete the virus for entry. This work is based on B-cell epitope mapping of SARS patients and subsequent identification of ACE2 binding peptides like: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354211005481 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016635421... I'm the "dry lab" side of this project -- looking for peptide candidates. My other collaborators at UNC are going to do formulate the aerosol and test for safety in mice. Normally this would be a very early stage in drug development, but it seems like we have to move quickly. So similar shout out to the Gates Foundation folks -- if you're interested in this approach email alex.rubinsteyn@unc.edu
bionhoward 7y ago
I’m not a doctor, but fusing a complement activator to a natural enzyme and megadosing it is a horrible idea because it’s gonna trigger complement activation in the context of a self protein, which could cause major autoimmunity, and ACE2 overload is gonna overactivate the angiotensin-aldosterone axis and deactivate renin via negative feedback, screw up your electrolytes which could cause arrhythmias, and give you high blood pressure. To avoid side effects, a therapy ought to be as orthogonal as possible to natural systems. A high dose of a hormone activator smushed together with an immune activator is definitely not orthogonal to natural systems. More useful to focus on genomic smart bombs like CRISPR Cas13 ( cough, https://github.com/bionicles/coronavirus https://github.com/bionicles/coronavirus ) or RNAi because they’re way, way, way, less likely to have side effects, they can last forever, can easily be retargeted to future germs hella quick, etc etc

tus88 7y ago

Good news.

notaharvardmba 7y ago

EIDD-2801 from DRIVE/Emory University is also looking extremely promising. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31578288 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31578288 They have a GoFundMe also to I guess try to get things ramped up: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/end-pandemics-now https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/end-pandemics-now

nopinsight 7y ago
This needs to be its own post and shared as much as possible. The above may yield a pill that patients can take at home, reducing further spread of infections that can easily occur in clinical settings. Without such a pill, hospital overflow will occur in any area with more than a few thousand cases. And there will be 100s-1000s of cities worldwide that medical resources could be overwhelmed within a few months. We need to explore all avenues now. In only 3-4 months, there will be 100,000s of deaths worldwide, if an effective treatment that can be administered outside of hospital settings is not available.
- nopinsight 7y ago
  For those who disagree, please study the coronavirus growth rate when no serious containment measure is implemented then try to provide evidence to the contrary (ie, either containment measures will be sufficient in most countries, or that my predictions above are flawed somehow.) A scientist recently presented at the AHA meeting with these bullet points: “- 4.8 million hospitalizations associated with the novel coronavirus - 96 million cases overall in the US - 480,000 deaths - Overall, the slide points out that hospitals should prepare for an impact to the system that's 10 times a severe flu season.” The figures are just for the US, not the world. https://www.businessinsider.com/presentation-us-hospitals-preparing-for-millions-of-hospitalizations-2020-3 https://www.businessinsider.com/presentation-us-hospitals-pr...

b34r 7y ago

“ Epidemics introduce a paradox to the world. Viruses like COVID-19 spread rapidly but developing vaccines and treatments to stop them moves slowly.” That’s not what a paradox is... sigh.

farseer 7y ago
Don't know why you are being down voted. This is hard scientific and economic reality, not a paradox.
- hellllllllooo 7y ago
  Because it's irrelevant pedantry?
  - pasquinelli 7y ago
    Yeah, but irrelevant pedentry doesn't always get downvotes.
uxcolumbo 7y ago
RE: Viruses like COVID-19 Not trying to nitpick, but isn't the virus called SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 is the illness?
- 013 7y ago
  Yes, COVID-19 is the disease caused by the virus, SARS-CoV-2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndr... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus_disease_2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus_disease_2019

jokowueu 7y ago

"The proposal is a biologic that blocks 2019-nCoV entry using a soluble version of the viral receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), fused to an immunoglobulin Fc domain (ACE2-Fc), providing a neutralizing antibody with maximal breath to avoid any viral escape, while also helping to recruit the immune system to build lasting immunity. The ACE2-Fc therapy would also supplement decreased ACE2 levels in the lungs during infection, thereby directly treating acute respiratory distress pathophysiology as a third mechanism of action."

narrator 7y ago

How about confirming that Chloroquine works?[1] Yeah, it's a boring old out of patent drug. New uses for out of patent synthetic drugs is like the most unsexy thing in all of medicine. Even herbal cures get more respect, because they are from mother earth. [1]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354220301145 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016635422...

jmnicolas 7y ago
This makes no sense to me : malaria is due to a bacteria and COVID19 is a virus, why choloroquine would work on both ?
- jansan 7y ago
  Read the paper. They tried it on many viruses, but it had no effect, except for Hepatitis C, where it had a mild effect. Now a first small study indicates that it may be highly effective for the treatment of COVID-19. Just a try-and-error process I guess, of all available tools use the one that works best.
- pasquinelli 7y ago
  If it helps, malaria is caused by a single celled parasite that isn't a bacterium. Though i don't know why that would help. Choloroquine is also used for autoimmune disease, which also doesn't make sense. Of course none of any of this makes sense to me because i don't know anything about it.
  - easymodex 7y ago
    From what i understand, one of the ways COVID-19 kills is by triggering an extreme autoimmune reaction which attacks the lungs (see: Cytokine storm).
- easytiger 7y ago
  The side effects of choloroquine will make you forget about the very mild flu like illness you just contracted.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

starpilot 7y ago

does this use nodejs?

GreaterFool 7y ago

Does one acquire immunity after going through CoV infection? What about SARS/MERS? If I understand correctly there are many strains of influenza and they mutate. That's why new vaccines are needed. What about SARS/MERS? Did they mutate too?

fyp 7y ago
Yes they do mutate and there are really pretty graphs for it: https://nextstrain.org/ncov https://nextstrain.org/ncov
- hanniabu 7y ago
  Wow those are nice graphs. I thought there were only 2 strains of the virus reported so far, but this seems to indicate many more, unless I'm confusing 'strains' with a better suited word like 'variations' or something. Idk, this isn't my forte but would appreciate correcting.
  - virusduck 7y ago
    These are variants sequenced from individuals. There so far is very little diversity in these sequences. The branch lengths are very short. There is isn't anything yet to describe any qualitative difference.
    - hanniabu 7y ago
      The amount of variations are concerning. Seems it'd be likely to mutate into a different strain. If that happened it would be ravaging. People that have already gotten sick and have lung damage could potentially catch the new strain and be even more at risk since the weaker. It'd be like the 1918 influenza pandemic where the first wave wasn't that bad relatively but the subsequent waves did a lot of damage.
franga2000 7y ago
There have been at least two cases of a second infection, and that's information from a week ago. I don't know what the consensus is, but immunity is not something we should count on.

avocado4 7y ago

CDC should require every lab and hospital screening for COVID19 to send lung CT and lab data to the government, and release it as a public dataset for AI developers to build screening models.

hef19898 7y ago
No, they should not. What they could do, so, would be to share the raw data with external bodies that have the proper domain knowledge and certification to actually work with it.
pishpash 7y ago
CDC too slow, non-reviewed papers already out: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2002.09334.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/2002.09334.pdf https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.25.20021568v2 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.25.20021568v...
- hef19898 7y ago
  Non-reviewed being the key here.

SonOfLilit 7y ago

Please fund clinical trials of zinc as COVID cure/statistical preventative: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/02/coronavirus-links-speculation-open-thread/#comment-859920 https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/02/coronavirus-links-spec...

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

f-robinhood 7y ago

Hopefully the Wuhan Institute of Virology--a mere 8 miles away from the wet market thought to be the epicenter of the outbreak--can help, since they've been studying similar viral strains for years: >https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4810638/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4810638/ (2016) We report the isolation and characterization of a novel bat coronavirus which is much closer to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in genomic sequence than others previously reported, particularly in its S gene. Cell entry and susceptibility studies indicated that this virus can use ACE2 as a receptor and infect animal and human cell lines. Our results provide further evidence of the bat origin of the SARS-CoV and highlight the likelihood of future bat coronavirus emergence in humans. Shi Zheng-Li's publication history is most interesting: >https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=shi,%20zheng%20li https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=shi,%20zheng%20li

mothsonasloth 7y ago

Funding and government initiatives aside, is there any tech platforms that facilitate scientific collaboration? It mostly seems to be just dropbox equivalents that let you drag and drop test results and PDFs into shareable folders.

dredmorbius 7y ago
WWW: http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html Though specific discussion of essential useful features and shortcomings of the basic concept might be helpful.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

JonathanFly 7y ago

The Gates Foundation was on this early: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2020/01/Gates-Foundation-Commits-10-Million-to-Global-Response-to-2019-nCOV https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/... https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2020/02/Bill-and-Melinda-Gates-Foundation-Dedicates-Additional-Funding-to-the-Novel-Coronavirus-Response https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/... >The foundation will provide up to $100 million to improve detection, isolation and treatment efforts; protect at-risk populations in Africa and South Asia; and accelerate the development of vaccines, drugs and diagnostics. That early investment is going to be so valuable. It's not so easy to get those six weeks back by spending 10x the amount the later.

finneganscat 7y ago

So will lisinopril help, Burt, or do nothing? My girlfriend has heart issues from being born with half chambers of her heart not working (tetralogy of fallot). She also has pulmonary hypertension. She just started metoprolol for irregular heartbeat. She has been on lisinopril for preventive measures most of her life. I’m worried for her. She’s only 35, but with her health issues, it’s quite stressful. I’m pretty sure her cardio won’t say to change anything, but I’d like to know if her ACE inhibitor will increase ACE2 and make things worse.

temptemptemp111 7y ago

Gates Foundation is a dysgenics program and this should not be hard for anyone who is reasonable to figure out.

christkv 7y ago

This study looks interesting https://pharmaphorum.com/news/china-backs-roches-actemra-to-fight-coronavirus-complications/ https://pharmaphorum.com/news/china-backs-roches-actemra-to-... Actemra is a biologic approved in 2010 in the US for rheumatoid arthritis and tones down immune responses by inhibiting interleukin 6 (IL-6). Basically it turns down the effect called a cytokine storm which causes your own immune system to attack your lungs. This kills a lot of people. Also take Vitamin D3 (1000 IU a day) it's proven to help lessen respiratory illness if you catch the virus.

dorfsmay 7y ago

I imagine they are already in contact, given they are in the same state, but just in case: https://www.chulab.org/announcements https://www.chulab.org/announcements https://twitter.com/HelenChuMD/status/1235339042889359361 https://twitter.com/HelenChuMD/status/1235339042889359361

jonnycomputer 7y ago

remdesivir https://angrybearblog.com/2020/03/novel-coronavirus-and-better-unsafe-than-sorry.html https://angrybearblog.com/2020/03/novel-coronavirus-and-bett...

known 7y ago

Combination lopinavir and ritonavir is used to treat COVID-19 in India/Thailand https://www.telegraphindia.com/health/anti-hiv-drugs-given-to-coronavirus-affected-elderly-italian-couple-in-jaipur/cid/1752505 https://www.telegraphindia.com/health/anti-hiv-drugs-given-t...

lqet 7y ago

Meanwhile, doctors in Germany begin to build their own protective suits because professional ones are hard to get: https://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/0a/f1/b2/8f/183612047-h-720.jpg https://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/0a/f1/b2/8f/183612047-... https://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/0a/f1/b2/8a/183612042-h-720.jpg https://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/0a/f1/b2/8a/183612042-...

hef19898 7y ago
Proof one doctor build his own PTE suit. No proof they aren't available per se.

aazaa 7y ago

I'm seeing a lot of unwarranted conclusions in this thread. In vitro work usually goes fast in drug development. The painfully slow process is human testing. The article says nothing about shortening the time from in vitro discovery to first use in humans. As far as I can tell, it just promises $125 million for early stage work. That's a lot of money, but a drop in the bucket by drug development standards. Good to know the effort is being made, just keep some perspective.

zerkten 7y ago
Part of the problem is that most people know very little about how drugs are developed, but they form a type of connection because they know the Gates Foundation. My hope is people gain a deeper appreciation of what's involved across many of these threads, but I feel like the opportunity will be missed.

chrstphrhrt 7y ago

Great to see people rallying around possible solutions and spreading the info. Personal anecdote, I was looking up whether to stop occasional cannabis usage as a precaution for a while because it has been labelled an immunosuppressant and an immunomodulator. I don't understand enough of the science to decide, so I'm stopping, but what I saw in those papers suggested that it is good at preventing autoimmune diseases from getting out of hand. Any expert knowledge/opinion very welcome, as many people have access to this drug already.

bionhoward 7y ago
The biggest problem about cannabis re: covid19 is if you smoke it, it’s gonna impair the cilia which help clean out your lungs, also you’re putting your lips on some dirty piece (especially bad if shared between multiple people as one person being exposed equals everyone else sharing the piece gets exposed) Definitely avoid combustion with shared bongs. If we might get sick with something that’s gonna impair our lungs, we ought to take action to increase lung function e.g. VO2Max (lactate threshold training / HIIT / Lung muscle exercises with incentive spirometers OR IMST devices) Not sure about the viral implications of systems biology of immune effects of cannabis, but it’s an interesting topic

saadalem 7y ago

So I have a weird hobby of reading case studies, and today my curiosity lead me to wonder why colonoscopy doctors do not use UVC... (UVC is a specific wavelength of light of the UV band - think UV lights in clubs - it kills bacteria and is now used in hospitals to sterilize equipment ) ...to cleanse the colon of both good and bad bacteria in the intestines in order to immediately cure patients with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and Chrons, which are both caused by harmful gut bacteria that even the best probiotics unfortunately do not successfully treat. (Which lead me down the rabbit hole...) If you want to be as sick to your stomach as I am, here is the truth and I am happy to source over 8 case studies out of dozens on the subject which all say the same thing, UVC kills cancer cells as well as COVID-19 and also strong ionized oxygen can kill any virus on contact instantly. Those tiny tentacles of Covid 19 virus will be neutralized in a fraction of a second in contact with the ionized oxygen.

vcanales 7y ago
Why “threaten” with sources instead of just posting them?
Blahah 7y ago
By "over 8" do you mean 9? Please do provide those sources.
objclxt 7y ago
> UVC kills cancer cells as well as COVID-19 It kills any cell, it's not discriminatory. Oh, and UV-C is carcinogenic. Once you understand that you might appreciate why we don't just shove a UV light up a colon.
- javajosh 7y ago
  Well, everything is carcinogenic. Given that sunlight has plenty of UV-C, it's probably okay to expose tissues to it briefly. (Of course, this is one of those treatments that definitely needs careful study.)
  - 7y ago

epmaybe 7y ago

While low yield, it would be interesting to look at fast-tracked whole genome data from infected patients, and see if there are any SNPs or mutations that could put you at higher risk for mortality.

victor106 7y ago

> And in 2017, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was created with nearly $650 million from Germany, Japan, Norway, Wellcome, and our foundation. Since then, others have come on board, including the UK, Canada, Ethiopia, Australia, Belgium, and the European Commission, to dramatically reduce the time it takes to develop vaccines for emerging epidemics, and ensure they are accessible, available, and affordable. Such a shame that the US is not on that list of countries.

classics2 7y ago

Won’t every person on earth in contact with other humans already be either immune by exposure or dead within 6 months?

dreichel 7y ago

Can someone please weigh in and say if someone who takes Losartan should switch to something else at this time? I am currently on that med and I am panicking after reading several articles. Thank you.

dreichel 7y ago

Can someone please explain if I am currently taking Losartan should I switch to something else? I keep reading conflicting articles. Some say it could be a benefit and actually used in treatment of covid 19. But other articles are saying the opposite. Thank you.