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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Severely Ill Patients At Chicago Hospital Showed Rapid Recovery After Receiving Gilead's Experimental Antiviral Drug |
| 2020-04-17 |
| [Hot Air] My layman’s understanding is that remdesivir has always been the best hope among scientists for a "miracle drug" that might put a real dent in the death toll. Hydroxychloroquine gets all the press because Trump has seized on it for whatever reason, but the evidence of its efficacy so far is mixed. The French study that put the drug on the world’s radar screen as a potential silver bullet against coronavirus was later withdrawn by the journal that published it because of flawed methodology. Some small studies from China indicated that it may have benefits against COVID-19, but another Chinese study released this week pointed the other way: "The pill didn’t help patients clear the virus better than standard care and was much more likely to cause side effects, according to a study of 150 hospitalized patients..." A new French study also showed few benefits from the drug, with less than a two-percent difference in mortality rates among patients admitted to the ICU who received the drug and those admitted to the ICU who didn’t. Part of the hope for hydroxychloroquine was due to the fact that it’s already on the shelf, available for off-label use. Remdesivir is still in the trial stage. But the FDA is watching it closely, knowing its potential, and Gilead is moving it along as quickly as possible, knowing how much demand there’ll be if trials confirm its efficacy. The company’s running a study right now involving 2,400 COVID-19 patients who are severely ill at 150 different clinical sites. Today’s big news comes from just one of those sites, a hospital at the University of Chicago. That’s the catch — the new data doesn’t reflect the outcome from the whole study, just one hospital’s experience. But that hospital is respected. And its head researcher sounds very encouraged by what she’s seen. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #6 Chalk up another one for big pharma. |
| Posted by: Clem 2020-04-17 21:19 |
| #5 While we rush life-saving drugs into production, probably including a COVID vaccine, remember Thalidomide, Vioxx, and the 1976 swine flu vaccine that had a lot of bad side effects and started the anti-vaxxer movement. Just don't forget - everybody has an axe to grind. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2020-04-17 09:39 |
| #4 I don't read: Instamoron - because I'm banned for calling Tesla owners a cult. Ace of Spades - Commenters talking about raping your dead mother. Hot Air - Only communist concern Commenters need apply. Red State - The dark matter portion of the Never Trump universe. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-04-17 08:01 |
| #3 and Allasquish is a never-trumper RINO cuck, so, of course HCQ can't work...because Trump I've pretty much quit reading HA, and several of the other VIP-required blogs |
| Posted by: Frank G 2020-04-17 07:16 |
| #2 And, since people in many remote and unregulated areas will self medicate and not report, these "magic numbers" will only matter to a credentialed idiot. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-04-17 05:22 |
| #1 What I'd really like to see are the stats for countries with the same quarantine rules divided into categories: using HCQ or not. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-04-17 04:24 |