Posted on 04/17/2020 7:20:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The happiest I’ve been in six weeks was reading this story.
Investors read it too, with the Dow Futures market suddenly evincing joy as well.
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French study that put the drug on the world’s radar screen as a potential silver bullet against coronavirus was later withdrawn by the journal that published it because of flawed methodology.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.
The University of Chicago Medicine recruited 125 people with Covid-19 into Gilead’s two Phase 3 clinical trials. Of those people, 113 had severe disease. All the patients have been treated with daily infusions of remdesivir.
“The best news is that most of our patients have already been discharged, which is great. We’ve only had two patients perish,” said Kathleen Mullane, the University of Chicago infectious disease specialist overseeing the remdesivir studies for the hospital…
“It’s always hard,” she said, because the severe trial doesn’t include a placebo group for comparison. “But certainly when we start [the] drug, we see fever curves falling,” she said. “Fever is now not a requirement for people to go on trial, we do see when patients do come in with high fevers, they do [reduce] quite quickly. We have seen people come off ventilators a day after starting therapy. So, in that realm, overall our patients have done very well.”
She added: “Most of our patients are severe and most of them are leaving at six days, so that tells us duration of therapy doesn’t have to be 10 days. We have very few that went out to 10 days, maybe three,” she said.
A 98 percent survival rate among “severely” ill patients sounds good to me. One patient who received remdesivir in the Chicago hospital told Stat he was admitted with a fever of 104 degrees and was struggling to breathe. They gave him oxygen and then started him on the drug on April 4. He claims his fever dropped almost immediately; after his second dose he was off oxygen. He was out of the hospital on April 7.
Is this a gamechanger? We’ll have a better sense soon: Apparently Gilead has the results from the first 400 patients who received the drug as part of its study and could release them at any moment. Unfortunately there was no control group, which will make it harder to say definitively that remdesivir is what’s leading patients to recover rather than standard treatment. But 98 percent is hard to argue with: A recent British study of patients with symptoms severe enough to require “critical care” found that only half survived.
A couple of days ago I wrote that the prospect of a pharmaceutical treatment coming along soon to change the trajectory of this epidemic is the single best reason not to follow Sweden’s “herd immunity” approach. An uncontrolled outbreak (or semi-controlled in their case) will accelerate deaths in the name of getting past the disease sooner. Flattening the curve and slowing it down buys time for scientists to come up with something that may end up averting many of those deaths. It’s still early in Sweden’s experiment, but … it’s not looking great right now:
There are sharp differences in COVD19 strategists between the Nordic countries. And also a distinct difference in results as measured in deaths. pic.twitter.com/Egw51K02Xk
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) April 16, 2020
Might want to start locking down for a few months, at least until Gilead has the full data on remdesivir. A lot of Scandinavian grandmas who might not need to die for the sake of the economy might end up being saved that way.
The best thing about this particular medicine is that it’s so dang expensive. That makes it better than HCQ which is dirt cheap.
The real source of joy to these media monkeys is that they have something they can use to marginalize hydroxychloroquine triple therapy. It’s not about a cure its orange man bad.
Is this the 1k per dose med.?
RE: Is this the 1k per dose med.?
Where are you getting that figure from?
Hydroxychloroquine and zinc work great if given early enough. It is good to see that there is an expensive alternative that works when things are left untreated too long. I wonder if the political class owns stock in the company the way Obama and co. did with the group trying experimental chemicals in the Gulf of Mexico.
Part of the hope for hydroxychloroquine was due to the fact that it’s already on the shelf>>>>>>>>>>>
They are trying to “was” HCQ. Its in use big time.
Remdesivir is not the only act in town. But there is more money to be made by all with Remdesivir as a “sanctioned” medicine.Not so much with an out of paptent drug readily available all over the world.
Few dare talk about the proper , timely use of Hydroxy-chloroquine, but it is in use big time off label in all 50 states.
The demand for the HCQ is so high that states are announcing “studies” just to get large quantities of the drug released from HHS.Thanks to President Trump , HHS has a huge stockpile of over 10 million doses.This is ready for roll out when states actually start to open.
But do not tell Lefty Dems...they are already having conniption fits of a genocidal nature , about HCQ being “dangerous.” My sister has been using HCQ for years for arthritis , no side effects.
A course of HCQ treatment costs $20.00 and a course of Remdesivir is about $1000.00
See:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3833992/posts?page=12#12
Whatever works to end this. I could see HCQ at the mild stage and Res for more chronic cases.
RE: The real source of joy to these media monkeys is that they have something they can use to marginalize hydroxychloroquine triple therapy. It’s not about a cure its orange man bad.
My friend, I am an advocate of HCQ + Azithromycin + Zinc and post lots of good news about their efficacy.
But even I rejoice at ANY drug developments that will stop this virus on its tracks.
This news, if true, is something we should all rejoice over REGARDLESS of what the liberals think.
The main questions now are — WHEN will it be approved,and HOW MUCH will it cost?
Key phrase: “113 had severe disease.”
Hydroxychloroquine with zinc does very well for patients in early stages of the disease, but not so well once they are on a ventilator or within 36 hours of being put on a ventilator.
This gives the doctor options.
Right-to-try might make it available to any patient in ICU. And importantly, it removes a lot of the FEAR that is driving current conditions. Death rates could plummet fast.
If everything cures the problem then maybe we don’t have the problem.
Just saying.
RE: A course of HCQ treatment costs $20.00 and a course of Remdesivir is about $1000.00
I don’t see the $1000 figure in the link you provided.
It’s just a number I have heard thrown out, hence the question.
MSM is determined to take HCQ treatment off the table it cannot be allowed any credibility. People may die but that’s better then Trump being right about anything.
it does seem that the plaquenil mix of drugs works for many people....but this article seems more focused on dissing something that works over the shiny new expensive toy....
RE: It’s just a number I have heard thrown out, hence the question.
IF Remdesivir is the drug that it is touted to be (a big IF, but let’s assume this ). I am quite sure that the Fed will do everything it can to bring the cost DOWN to the masses.
One thing they can do is REIMBURSE Gilead for the cost of all the testing they did.
Another is to give them a huge tax incentive to produce the drug and make it available cheaply.
There are other ways but those are some ideas.
It’s quite the coincidence that this drug is available at just the right time to fight this virus.
I’ve heard that the Gilead treatment is pricey.
My question is ... does EITHER treatment prevent some of the CV19 side effects that we’re hearing about...such as lung damage, neurological damage, etc, if administered in time?
RE: but this article seems more focused on dissing something that works over the shiny new expensive toy....
We don’t even know how much it costs yet... so let’s hold our horses for just a moment.
Analysts at RBC Capital Markets expect Gilead would price the drug at around $900 to $1,000 or lower per course, a cost above oral flu drugs but below new intravenous antibiotics.
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