Posted on 12/06/2020 10:01:01 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The COVID-19 vaccine may spell the end of the pandemic, but while mass vaccination is not available it is vital to stop community transmission. The new antiviral drug MK-4482 / EIDD-2801 or Molnupiravir, has managed to suppress "completely" the transmission of the coronavirus in just 24 hours , according to studies by the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Georgia State University.
"This is the first demonstration of an orally available drug that quickly blocks the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 , so it could be a game changer," the researchers explained in the work published in the journal Nature Microbiology .
The antiviral drug was developed at Emory University in Atlanta by the drug innovation company Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE), which was licensed by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, which partnered with Merck & Co. Molnupiravir was originally designed to treat the flu and prevent the virus from making copies of itself, creating errors during viral RNA replication.
The experts detail that tests were carried out on ferrets and it was observed that they presented a reduction in the amount of viral particles. Then those ferrets were put with others that had not been treated. None of the ferrets in the second group became infected with COVID-19.
"We believe that ferrets are a relevant transmission model because they easily spread SARS-CoV-2, but for the most part they do not develop a serious disease, which is very similar to the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in young adults," he said. Dr. Robert Cox, a postdoctoral fellow in the Plemper group and co-lead author of the study.
“We observed early on that MK-4482 / EIDD-2801 has broad spectrum activity against respiratory RNA viruses and that oral treatment of infected animals with the drug reduces the amount of viral particles spread by several orders of magnitude, drastically reducing transmission. These properties made MK-4482 / EIDD / 2801 a powerful candidate for the pharmacological control of Covid-19 ”, the report adds.
A promising antiviral that breaks the chain of transmission:
Therapeutic treatment of animals infected with MK-4482 / EIDD-2801 reduces the burden of SARS-CoV-2 in the upper respiratory tract and completely suppresses the spread in ferrets. https://t.co/WaMnNk6aao - José Manuel Bautista (@ 1000genes)December 5, 2020
If this ferret-based data is translated into humans, Covid-19 patients treated with the drug could become non-infectious within 24 hours of starting treatment.
The drug can be taken orally, and treatment can be started early for a triple potential benefit: inhibiting patients' progress to severe disease, shortening the infectious phase to alleviate the emotional and socioeconomic cost of prolonged patient isolation, and containing quickly local outbreaks.
Molnupiravir is currently in advanced phase II / III clinical trials. It is being tested in three different doses every 12 hours for five days in patients with SARS-CoV-2.
Ping for your interest
Thanks ;-)
Interesting.
Can they give doses to the ferrets sitting on the Arizona legislature?
[[The drug can be taken orally, and treatment can be started early for a triple potential benefit: inhibiting patients’ progress to severe disease, shortening the infectious phase to alleviate the emotional and socioeconomic cost of prolonged patient isolation, and containing quickly local outbreaks.]]
Soon to be banned in all democrat run states because it causes ‘potentially upsetting sweating and toothaches’ in hypersensitive people who suffer from 5-10 pre-existing conditions prior to gettign covid
IF Trump came out and talked favourably of the tests- the left would ban it immediately most likely-
Aside from that though- if this pans out- it means everyone gets back to normal life, and democrats lose their total control on their citizens- folks l ike whitmer, cuomo newsom are likely furious about this news
bkmk
concernign side effects incase folks are curious
“But so far, molnupiravir has come through on the side effects side, Perlmutter said. In current dose-escalation studies, the drug is being tested in a five-day regimen, twice a day, with some doses likely higher than necessary to work well.“Across several hundred people, molnupiravir has been well-tolerated,” he said. “We have not seen any safety signals at all.”
What’s more, based on preclinical work, “we do think that in terms of reduction of viral burden, it’s very likely that molnupiravir will be superior to remdesivir,” Perlmutter said.”
Costs a ton, I’ll guess.
costs way less than lockdowns no matter what it costs
L8r
Remdesivir is a crappy drug that doesn’t work. This looks promising. Perhaps the tamiflu of CoVId
I would have paid it to keep my dad alive.
p
If true, this is wonderful news! Goodness knows that the FDA won’t fast-track it for widespread use, though. They put all of their eggs into the vaccine basket, and they’re really determined to push it.
BTTT!!
These options are much safer than taking a novel vaccine.
The reason that these treatments are being ridiculed and suppressed is because the emergency expedite clause for FDA emergency approval for the various vaccines and new drugs being developed to fight CV-19 expressly requires that there is no current existing alternative treatment option in order to qualify for the emergency expedited FDA approval process.
So if the various HCQ/Zinc/antibiotic/ anti inflammatory steroid/Ivermectin/anti blood clotting cocktails or similar treatments are cheap, safe, effective and readily available them the new really expensive and relatively dangerous and ineffective ones like Remdesivir or any of the new vaccines are not going to qualify for the emergency expedited FDA approval process.
Even President Trump has to be careful here because it is vital we have a vaccine option. He has invested in the success of Operation Warp Speed and we do need a vaccine, if for no other reason than to calm the media and government driven hysteria and get people back to normal so we can open up the economy before we run ourselves into an economic depression.
I wonder what prevents it from “error catastrophe” in the human RNA.
I’ll bet. I’m so sorry for your loss
Thank you. He pretty healthy. Always fishing, chopping wood, etc...COVID appeared and 2 1/2 weeks later he was gone.
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