Finnish firm earns US patent for Covid drug containing ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine
24.5.2021 18:58 | updated 24.5.2021 18:58
FTA
The Turku company says its nasal spray delivers low, safe doses of hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin and aprotinin.
A coronavirus drug developed by Therapeutica Borealis, a pharmaceutical firm in Turku, has been granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The nasal spray contains hydroxychloroquine, among other ingredients.
Earlier in May, the company said it had received approval for a patent application, based on which it expected a final patent this month.
“The final patent is an important milestone for us on our way to the market. Our next goal is to find an established pharmaceutical industry company with an international business scale,” says Professor Kalervo Väänänen, one of the three inventors and founders of Therapeutica Borealis, in a press release on Monday. Väänänen is a cell biologist and former rector of the University of Turku.
The co-inventors of the drug and co-founders of Therapeutica Borealis are Lauri Kangas, an adjunct professor of science at the University of Turku, and Matti Rihko, a psychologist, and board chair of the Turku Chamber of Commerce and of the University of Turku. He is also a former CEO of the Raisio food corporation, known for its cholesterol-lowering Benecol products.
According to the company, the nasal spray acts on cell function in nasal mucous in three ways, impairing the ability of the virus to penetrate the body and multiply, thus reducing the risk of serious illness.
Another Finnish pharmaceutical company, Rokote Laboratories, has been developing a coronavirus vaccine in nasal spray form, but has struggled to gain financing.
“Tackling the pandemic probably requires, in addition to a vaccine, a preventive or early-acting drug. This drug also helps especially in a situation where vaccine coverage threatens to remain too low for herd immunity,” said Väänänen.
The firm said that the drug’s active ingredients – aprotinin, hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin – are well-known and widely used drugs, but in this product are used in a new, targeted manner on the upper respiratory mucous membrane.
All the drug molecules covered by the patent are approved for the treatment of other diseases, but if used systemically, for instance as pills or infusions swallowed by patients, the amounts of drugs would be high and potentially harmful.
For topical use, as in a nasal spray, the concentrations of the active ingredients throughout the body remain very low but are sufficient locally to prevent the passage and replication of the virus, making the drug safer and more effective, says Therapeutica Borealis.
Aprotinin is a protease inhibitor while ivermectin is an antiparasitic and hydroxychloroquine has been used against malaria – and has been touted as a Covid-19 treatment by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and former US President Donald Trump among others.
Earlier this year ivermectin manufacturer Merck said there was “no scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against Covid-19” and “no meaningful evidence for clinical activity or clinical efficacy in patients with Covid-19.”
In March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended against using ivermectin in patients with Covid-19 except for clinical trials, because of a lack of data demonstrating its benefits. The European Medicines Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration issued similar warnings. It has however been used for Covid patients in countries including South Africa and India.
Corey A. DeAngelis
@DeAngelisCorey
NEW: Florida Board of Education will hold an emergency meeting tomorrow morning to discuss allowing families to take their children’s education dollars elsewhere if their public school’s masking rules “pose a health or educational danger to their child.”
8:03 AM · Aug 5, 2021
https://twitter.com/DeAngelisCorey/status/1423298571630088199?s=20
Thanks for the post!
Landlord out $24,000 in rent due to eviction moratorium, says tenants buying boats
Buddy Shoup, who owns 35 properties in North Carolina, says his tenants are spending money on other things besides rent while he is forced to maintain the property.
A North Carolina landlord says he is out $24,000 in unpaid rent from tenants, while one renter bought three boats over the course of the eviction moratorium just as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a new ban that will last until Oct. 3.
Buddy Shoup, who owns 35 properties across the state, said that he has been forced to maintain the properties and hemorrhage costs while the federal government slowly dribbles out rental assistance, of which only 7% has been doled out to renters in need.
“[The money] was used, they went and bought brand new boats, but I mean, you know in a time of crisis like what we’ve been through, you’re evidently getting money from somewhere, but it’s not getting to me,” said Shoup.
Those very same tenants allegedly contacted Shoup when their air-conditioning failed in the middle of the summer.
Shoup was legally required to make the $4,500 repair on the residence but said he did not receive any money from the tenants or the government to cover the additional cost.
“It goes way beyond the loss of rental income, we’re still bound by county rules and laws,” added Shoup. “We have to maintain the property.”
https://www.foxnews.com/media/eviction-ban-north-carolina-landlord-moratorium-rent-coronavirus
Back in the USSR.