3 ms·
I have some meta-doubts about the linked presentation (https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTi-g18ftNZUMRAj2SwRPodtscFio7bJ7GdNgbJAGbdfF67WuRJB3Zsidgpid
by hprotagonist 7y ago
I have some meta-doubts about the linked presentation (https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTi-g18ftNZUMRAj2SwRPodtscFio7bJ7GdNgbJAGbdfF67WuRJB3ZsidgpidB2eocFHAVjIL-7deJ7/pub https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTi-g18ftNZUMRAj...)
1. for starters, it's a random gdrive link not on medrxiv or biorxiv. why?
2. it's GPL3'd? Conventionally, we disseminate open access research as CC-BY 4.
3. the first author is who he says he is -- but he is a "managing partner" at blocktown capital not a practicing physician. [0]
4. The second author is a bioinformatics masters student who is also a lawyer and not obviously a practicing researcher. [1]
5. Figures 1 and 2 are presented without obvious attribution from https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-422X-2-69 https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-42..., which is not about SARS-CoV-2, but about the first SARS from 2002.
This isn't my field, but i am a biomedical researcher and i'm very used to reading the medical literature, and this read deeply strangely in a lot of ways that are hard to quantify. The language isn't what I'd expect for a research paper, but it's kind of written like it wants to be one. I'm not super clear on what's going on.
I have no reason to doubt the intentions of the authors, per se, but this work is super rough around the edges. It reads like a thrown-together collection of notes for a lab meeting, but not something I'd show off in public.
[0]: https://twitter.com/JamesTodaroMD https://twitter.com/JamesTodaroMD
[1]: https://www.riganollc.com/attorneys/gregory-j-rigano/ https://www.riganollc.com/attorneys/gregory-j-rigano/
- avip 7y agoI'm generally in agreement with you, but tangentially, Chloroquine was already tried in some countries (not in the controlled sense we expect in an actual clinical trial), and showed "promising results" https://sci-hub.si/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354220301145 https://sci-hub.si/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/art...
- hprotagonist 7y agothat is a much more comprehensibly written document. Nice find.
- capkutay 7y agoit might be that this author is rushing to confirm something that other research is already suggesting. south korea and italy are both using hydroxychloroquinine at scale and US hospitals are also starting to use it.
- lbeltrame 7y ago> italy are both using hydroxychloroquinine Do you have a link? I wonder because the "regular" media does not talk about it, and the AIFA (Italy's FDA) did not make public statements on the use of this drug.
- dmix 7y agoThe UK blocked the export of Chloroquinine on Feb 24th without much fanfair. I believe they don't want regular people rushing out to hoard the drug when they don't need it. There is already lots of talk on Twitter about shortages for people who were already using it (ie, for Lupus). In Canada it requires a prescription but plenty of countries have it over-the-counter.
- jaclaz 7y agoThere are some news about a limited trial on 15 people: https://www.fondazioneveronesi.it/magazine/articoli/lesperto-risponde/coronavirus-diversi-i-farmaci-in-sperimentazione https://www.fondazioneveronesi.it/magazine/articoli/lesperto... but of course that is old news, 13 th March.
- lbeltrame 7y agoIt mentions "Chinese patients" which means that at least generally, cloroquine is not yet used here (Italy) as an accepted/attempted therapeutic protocol (although I'm sure it was used for compassionate use). Toclizumab is a different story, since there's now a proper trial with 300 patients starting on Thursday.
- lultimouomo 7y agoGuidelines from the Italian Society of Infective Diseases Physicians indicates chloroquinine/hydroxychloroquinine as a first line treatment together with one of various antivirals. http://www.simit.org/medias/1569-covid19-vademecum-13-03-202.pdf http://www.simit.org/medias/1569-covid19-vademecum-13-03-202...
- kossTKR 7y agoI know MedCram has covered the use of hydroxychloroquine a few days ago (at 1:20): https://youtu.be/vE4_LsftNKM?t=79 https://youtu.be/vE4_LsftNKM?t=79 More on chloroquine & zinc: https://youtu.be/U7F1cnWup9M?t=95 https://youtu.be/U7F1cnWup9M?t=95 He is an active ICU specialist MD out of CA and makes some of the only expert videos on the subject at the moment.