Posted on 04/09/2020 9:04:54 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Pfizer Inc. said it's making "important advances" in the drug company's battle against the coronavirus.
The New York-based pharmaceutical giant (NYSE: PFE) said its researchers and scientists "have been relentlessly working" to find a treatment for coronavirus, as well as working on a vaccine to prevent it.
"We are facing this public health challenge head on by collaborating with industry partners and academic institutions to develop potential novel approaches to prevent and treat COVID-19. Our researchers and scientists also have been exploring potential new uses of existing medicines in Pfizer’s portfolio to help infected patients globally," said Dr. Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO, in a statement.
The company said it's "confirmed a lead compound and analogues (which) are potent inhibitors of" SARS-CoV-2, which causes the current pandemic of coronavirus infections (COVID-19).
In addition, Pfizer said it's working with German biotech BioNTech SE to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, with clinical trials expected to begin later this month, and "there is potential to supply millions of vaccine doses by the end of 2020 subject to technical success of the development program and approval of regulatory authorities and then rapidly scale up to capacity to produce hundreds of millions of doses in 2021."
“While this work can generally take years, we are working to find opportunities to save time wherever we can and work in parallel rather than in a linear capacity. ... A public threat like coronavirus COVID-19 pushes each of us to urgently bring forward our resources and expertise to overcome this most challenging moment in the medical history of this century," said Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer research and development head, in the statement.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Pfizer said it will begin testing its rheumatoid-arthritis drug Xeljanz in coronavirus patients in Italy this week to see if that drug works as a therapy.
Tofacitinib is another immunosuppressive drug (in this case, a JAK inhibitor) which, like tocilizumab (an IL-6 inhibitor) could potentially be used to treat late-stage COVID when cytokine storm is recognized.
This press release is presumably Pfizer’s response to concerned stockholders wondering when and if they are going to get in the game.
Cytokine inhibitors may well save a few lives. We have tocilizumab in our schematic (but haven’t used it yet). But these drugs are not antivirals and won’t have wide-scale application in solving the problem.
OK, so now all the pharmas will be falling all over themselves to announce their great new patent medicines. It was a sad day when the FCC allowed advertising of so-called ethical medicines.
Why don’t they get this frantic over flu that sickens millions, kills 20 k yearly?
I worry about my niece, sweet mom of 2, she has Lupus, Sjrogens, Jacksonian Seizures, Lymes, trashed lungs, liver, kidneys, FMS, who is dealing with a DUCNENES MD stress causing hair to fall out, not on any meds, soon to be 15 yr old. He has a butcher knife he takes to bed. Then hides from his mom. Nasty divorce from absive husband stalking and making threats via Txt, courts closed, cops are his drinking buds. Ex Con, DOPE Addict. 9 yr old is terrified and sleeps with her.
God bless her. Another consequence of shutting everything down....
Many of the autoimmune meds come with a ton of side effects, addictation, heart, kidney, liver and cancer.
Look up Plaquenil side effects. Not a nice drug to be stuck on for life. Regular Zinc Non Oxide has a 30 mg limit. Plaquenil https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-6986/plaquenil-oral/details
Took Plaquenil for years with no side effects...anyone saying it’s dangerous has an agenda....
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