4 ms·
We need a backup plan. While there a lot of drugs being developed for the treatment of Covid-19, it's easier to use a drug that has already been around for a w
by dham 5y ago
We need a backup plan. While there a lot of drugs being developed for the treatment of Covid-19, it's easier to use a drug that has already been around for a while because the safety profile is pretty much known.
Spray and pray drug development led to our most useful drugs we use today and in the past.
- jleyank 5y agoActually, I don’t think there are any drugs developed to fight COVID. Yeah, there are monoclonal antibodies developed from the initial cohort of symptomatic patients, and various anti inflammatories that have been effective in reducing the intensity of a cytokine storm. There are small molecule efforts, but these things take time. There is a delta specific vaccine in initial clinical trials but it’s bloody hard to get a placebo group together anymore. The vaccines (of which there are both traditional and novel delivery mechanisms and payloads) represent the best way of reducing the impact of the infection. There is only a short window in most people in which there is an active COVID infection. The problem starts with the aftermath - those with a strong, active immune system zap their lungs or other organ systems. Hence the anti inflammatories. Viruses aren’t fully alive and they lack many/most of the biological features typical drugs affect. Thus, unless there’s a fortunate side effect, the risk to the human > risk to the virus.
- dham 5y agoI assume everyone was working on treatments. My sibling works at Pfizer as a Sas programmer / manager (mostly cancer trials) and they're working on a study with an old HIV drug. That's just one small team in a huge company. Edit: Just got clarification it's PF-07321332. I think it's related to ritonivir? Not super sure