Posted on 04/06/2020 7:42:39 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Beginning on Mar. 3, 2020, with the first reported case of COVID-19 in Wake County, the coronavirus has spread across North Carolina. Here's a look at the cumulative number cases by day as reported by NC DHHS and county health departments. BY KEVIN KEISTER
A new antiviral drug will be tested in human clinical trials that could help doctors treat COVID-19 and it can be taken as a pill.
UNC-Chapel Hill researchers and a team of other scientists found that the new drug, called EIDD-2801, can prevent and reduce severe lung damage in testing that involved mice infected with coronavirus, according to a new study published Monday. The human clinical trials for the drug are expected to start this spring.
“This new drug not only has high potential for treating COVID-19 patients, but also appears effective for the treatment of other serious coronavirus infections,” senior author Ralph Baric said in a news release.
Baric is William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of epidemiology at UNC-Chapel Hill. He’s running a lab at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health that’s working on fighting the global pandemic and finding a cure for the coronavirus disease. More than 1 million people have been infected with COVID-19 and more than 70,000 people have died from it.
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“Currently, no antiviral drugs have been approved to treat SARS-CoV-2 or any of the other coronaviruses that cause human disease,” according to UNC. But Baric and this team are working to change that.
RalphBaricLabCoat.jpg Ralph Beric, a faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health, is a leading researcher on coronaviruses. UNC-CHAPEL HILL The new drug is a form of the antiviral compound EIDD-1931 that can be taken orally, which is easier than using an IV and helps it absorb and travel to the lungs.
The pill option could also be beneficial for treating patients who aren’t severely ill or as a preventative measure for people who have been exposed to the coronavirus but are not sick yet, according to UNC. That could be particularly helpful at nursing homes that have a high concentration of high-risk populations.
In the mice testing, the drug was given as a treatment 12 or 24 hours after the infection began, which reduced the degree of lung damage and weight loss in mice, according to UNC. That treatment window should be longer in humans because the time between getting the coronavirus disease and dying from it are generally longer for people than mice.
In addition to limiting the spread of COVID-19, the drug could curb future outbreaks of other coronaviruses if the human clinical trials are successful.
“With three novel human coronaviruses emerging in the past 20 years, it is likely that we will continue to see more,” first author Timothy Sheahan said in a statement. “EIDD-2801 holds promise to not only treat COVID-19 patients today, but to treat new coronaviruses that may emerge in the future.”
Sheahan is an assistant professor of epidemiology at UNC who is working in Baric’s lab.
The News & Observer wants to feature stories about NC people on the frontlines of the battle against COVID-19. Tell us about your healthcare heroes here.
The results of the study were published by the journal Science Translational Medicine on Monday. The paper includes data from cultured human lung cells infected with the coronavirus disease and mice infected with the related coronaviruses SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, according to UNC.
UNC virologists in Baric’s lab are working with scientists in the lab of Mark Denison, Edward Claiborne Stahlman Professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and George Painter, chief executive officer of the nonprofit Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory.
Painter is also the director of the Emory Institute for Drug Development, where this drug was discovered. The collaboration is supported by an National Institutes of Health grant through the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
“We are amazed at the ability of EIDD-1931 and -2801 to inhibit all tested coronaviruses and the potential for oral treatment of COVID-19,” Andrea Pruijssers, the lead antiviral scientist in the Denison Lab at VUMC, said in a statement. “This work shows the importance of ongoing National Institutes of Health (NIH) support for collaborative research to develop antivirals for all pandemic viruses, not just coronaviruses.”
This team also helped develop another antiviral drug currently in clinical trials of patients with COVID-19 called remdesivir. The two drugs could be combined for a more successful treatment and to prevent resistance from the virus, according to Painter.
And unlike HCQ costing $12 per course, this new miracle drug will be only $1000 dollars per pill.
Cheap at any price if it works. We are spending trillions of dollars now and lost many trillions more in wealth. The sooner we get this economy back up, the better.
“UNC-Chapel Hill researchers and a team of other scientists found that the new drug, called EIDD-2801....”
Aren’t these the same folks involved in one of those conspiracies with Chinese researchers and virus samples leaked/stolen?
The static nature of the FDA needs to become more dynamic.
Above is a link I found with the conspiracy theory. If true - no wonder they were able to come up with some medicine so quickly.
Oh, yeah, cures by the dozens every day to get more people out there and mingling for the eugenicists!
“Dry land is not just our destination, it is our destiny!” — “Deacon,” “Waterworld”
This corona beast attacks with such voraciousness the entire body's system jumps into action which then weakens the heart and other vital organs fighting against it.
[[This corona beast attacks with such voraciousness the entire body’s system jumps into action which then weakens the heart and other vital organs fighting against it.]]
Unless the victim is given HCQ and antibiotic and Zinc- which inhibits the replication of the virus, making far far less harmful to the body- the thing about the virus is how quickly it replicates and attacks the body, and overwhelms the body’s defense mechanisms- the body can’t keep up, lungs become damaged, fill with fluids, heart, which has been damaged or at least taxed, has to now work harder- oxygen lessens, organs suffer as a result- etc- and it just can’t keep pace with the onslaught of virus
with HCQ and zinc- this process comes to a screeching halt, and the sooner it’s given REGARDLESS of the person’s state at the time it’s discovered that they have it, The better chance they have of staying out of ICU and off the respirators- The better chance the person has of not developing irreversible lung damage-
It’s a nasty virus- or can be for some
““Currently, no antiviral drugs have been approved to treat SARS-CoV-2”
they’re simply lying:
“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to BARDA to allow hydroxychloroquine sulfate and chloroquine phosphate products donated to the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients with COVID-19, as appropriate, when a clinical trial is not available or feasible.”
in the mean time, their “trial” won’t even START until spring, and who knows when it will finish ... even by the start time, the crisis will be over and most who’ve fallen seriously ill will die if they haven’t been given hydroxychloroquine ... not to mention, said new drug will probably cost a thousand dollars a pill, assuming it even works ... Way to go UNC “researchers”!
hydroxychloroquine is not an anti-viral!
hydroxychloroquine is not an anti-viral! It’s an anti-malarial.
“hydroxychloroquine is not an anti-viral! It’s an anti-malarial.”
you’re 100% correct and i appreciate the correction ... i thought anti-malarial and typed anti-viral ... time to quit posting and time to get some sleep ... until tomorrow then ...
Yes,....that’s it exactly. I viewed a video demonstration of how voracious Covid attacks and how the bodys defense gets so overwhelmed fighting against it.... It was quite the eye opener and certainly gives one a better understanding why Dr.s, Scientists, lab people etc. were so alarmed when it first showed it’s ugly head. Also why it differs so as with other virus.
They were right to warn about this and I do think the extreme measures were necessary. There was nothing to stop this beast and no immunity to it....every major and small city would now be looking like new york City and much worse as even though Cuomo was late to act he ultimately did or we’d be seeing thousands more dead there.
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