Posted on 01/28/2021 8:53:21 PM PST by SeekAndFind
KENILWORTH, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that the company is discontinuing development of its SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccine candidates, V590 and V591, and plans to focus its SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 research strategy and production capabilities on advancing two therapeutic candidates, MK-4482 and MK-7110. This decision follows Merck’s review of findings from Phase 1 clinical studies for the vaccines. In these studies, both V590 and V591 were generally well tolerated, but the immune responses were inferior to those seen following natural infection and those reported for other SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccines. Merck continues to advance clinical programs and to scale-up manufacturing for two investigational medicines, MK-7110 and MK-4482 (molnupiravir); molnupiravir is being developed in collaboration with Ridgeback Bio.
“We are grateful to our collaborators who worked with us on these vaccine candidates and to the volunteers in the trials,” said Dr. Dean Y. Li, president, Merck Research Laboratories. “We are resolute in our commitment to contribute to the global effort to relieve the burden of this pandemic on patients, health care systems and communities.”
Due to the discontinuation, the company will record a charge in the fourth quarter of 2020. The charge will be included in Merck’s generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) results, but will not impact non-GAAP results.
Merck and its collaborators plan to submit the results of the Phase 1 studies for V590 and V591 for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. In addition to advancing the development and production of MK-7110 and MK-4482, Merck will continue to conduct SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 research. Merck will also continue to evaluate the potential of the measles-virus vector and vesicular stomatitis virus vector-based platforms and pursue broader pandemic-response capabilities. The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need for our company and our industry to continue to invest in research to address threats to health security.
About Merck’s therapeutic candidates
For me and mine, we will get our immunity the old fashion way. We believe it is not only more effective but safer.
RE: we will get our immunity the old fashion way.
When I was a child, in our community, my parents actually sent me to play with a neighboring kid who got Chicken Pox so that I would catch it and develop immunity to it ( I did, a mild version that got me down for a week ).
Is that the old fashion way? I hope yours will be a mild one.
I had chicken pox three times.
I probably should get the shingles vax, considering.
“But you can only get it once!”
Don’t bet on it!
Yes, it was milder the second and third time around.
But the itching was somehow worse.
VIDEO: 15 Jan: The New American: Bio-warfare & Weaponization of Medicine Amid Covid
by TNA Video
In this explosive interview with Senior Editor Alex Newman of The New American magazine, former president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) Dr. Lee Merrit explains her belief that America is currently facing what appears to be biological warfare. Whether the Communist Chinese released the COVID-19 virus on purpose or by accident is impossible to know, but the implications are enormous. And when it comes to the new vaccines, Dr. Merrit, a former military doctor who studied biological warfare, reviews previous animal studies on the technology underlying the vaccines and paints a dire picture. However, even though modern medical schools do not often teach it, there are ways to treat viral infections that are time-tested and effective, she concludes.
https://thenewamerican.com/bio-warfare-weaponization-of-medicine-amid-covid/
But did they send you to a Polio Party or a Measles party?
Chicken Pox parties were common because it was well known that getting it as a child carried far fewer risks than getting it as an adult and there was no vaccine for it until 1995.
I eventually had my zoomer children vaccinated because there were no chicken pox outbreaks or pox parties to be had.
Supposedly, they will not need a Shingles vax when they get geriatric because they never had chicken pox.
I consider the old fashion way as this.
Going about your normal life, encountering viruses that we have been surrounded by since time and memorial, and letting one of natures greatest protection systems, the human immune system, protect us.
Essentially doing exactly the opposite of everything we see today.
A deep dive into mankind’s immune system is not only enlightening but life affirming. Once you scratch the surface of this great system God enshrined into each and every one of us, you will no longer live in fear of this virus. Not that I think you personally live in fear mind you.
[[Interim results from a Phase 3 study showed a greater than 50 percent reduction in the risk of death or respiratory failure in patients hospitalized with moderate to severe COVID-19.]]
That’s it? Ivermectin supposedly has a much higher % success in saving lives-
I also had measles twice, after getting the vaccine. So there is no 100% sure thing.
Even if you get the disease after being vaccinated, there is still a benefit from having your immune system primed with a running start - generally better outcomes, less severe disease.
There was another major vaccine candidate that turned out to be a swing and a miss (I think it was the French Sanofi).
Great wisdom in the Operation Warp Speed approach of picking the world leading companies, and have them work on eight different candidates, using four different technical approaches.
Looks like we will have at least four strongly effective vaccines, with Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) and AstraZeneca/Oxford reporting great results..
Agree
Ivermectin?
Yes, my 95 year old father was diagnosed in December with Covid19. Quick test was negative (Dec 23), longer test came back positive on (Dec 28). They had already put him on an antibiotic and Claritin and heavy D-3 on the 23rd, but on the 28th they prescribed 3 day round of Ivermectin and Zinc.
He was very very weak, but did not have bad respiratory issues. He has recovered from Covid and is beginning to build his strength again. But he is 95 and has several other serious health issues. He has a heart pacemaker, he long ago had heart bypass surgery, and has Pick’s disease. But he is still at home with 24 hour care. (and a tough old WWII vet)
Agreed.
Interesting statement:
immune responses were inferior to those seen following natural infection
Does this mean:
Subjects who received the vaccine and then were 1st time infected by COVID-19 got sicker than subjects who did not receive the vaccine and were 1st time infected by COVID-19?
Or does it mean subjects who received the vaccine and then were 1st time infected by COVID-19 got sicker than subjects who did not receive the vaccine and were 2nd time infected by COVID-19?
Do we have good data yet regarding duration and quality of immunity following 1st time infection by COVID-19?
How does severity of COVID-19 disease affect duration and quality of immunity following 1st time infection by COVID-19? (I can see where this would be tricky analysis, as serious illnesses are often due to complications "enabled", one might say, by COVID-19, but not directly effects of the virus itself. We've had multiple friends in the hospital with COVID-19, recover in seemingly pretty good shape, and then go right back in with a complication.)
Gee, you’d have really enjoyed Messina, circa 1348. All natural, you know...
Well said. I find this Covid flu feared mostly by non believers, a weak minded, fearful bunch. Imagine if we had the faith of our Founding Fathers...this Covid hoax would haves been way behind us six months ago.
They’re measuring the presence of neutralizing antibodies present in the system of those receiving the vaccine vs those who were infected by SARS-CoV-2. In essence, the Merck vaccine candidates provoked a weak immune response. The body largely ignored their candidates.
On the other hand, Moderna’s vaccine produces an immune response significantly higher than a SARS-CoV-2 infection: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3864995/posts
God gave us brains larger than cats so we could improve upon the natural world and better our survival. It's the reason we have clothing that protects us from the elements, weapons that protect us from predators, and vaccines that protect us from pathogens that evolved over time to kill us. Smallpox doesn't care if you're afraid or not. Nor does polio. They just do what they do.
Certainly you are entitled to make your own decisions about what's best for your own health and wellbeing, but don't make it sound like those of us who choose to take vaccines against deadly diseases are somehow living in fear or ignorant of the wonders of God's work.
I never heard of “polio parties”, but the other childhood illnesses Chicken Pox, sometimes measles because German Measles could cause more problems, and mumps were common party events in the ‘50s.
My daughter is an RN and says that the Chicken Pox vaccine seems to not be as effective against Shingles as having actual Chicken Pox - sometimes the Shingles cases have been worse that “normal” in those folks.
Like everything these days, the cure and the disease need to be weighed on the scales and a coin has to be flipped.
There are different components of our immune response that can be measured, but they may each vary in different ways, to different diseases. BecauseCOVID-19 is new, not every measure was known.
For example, specific antibodies against a particular disease, circulating in the blood, can be measured. That response can be characterized in different ways - how many, how quickly they develop, how actively they respond, how long they remain circulating in the blood. I think COVID-19 antibodies actively circulate for about two months after an immune challenge (infection or vaccination).
Another key immune response, is T cell (lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell) memory. Long after active antibodies have cleared from the blood, these cells will still recognize, hunt and kill COVID-19 infected cells. For some diseases, such memory can last a lifetime. For others, just a few years. It’s probably too soon to be sure for COVID-19, but it seems likely that the long term TCell memory would be proportional to the strength of initial response, when comparing a vaccine to a natural infection.
As you point out, the strength of the various immune responses can also vary widely, based on how serious an illness someone experiences.
I’d guess that professionals in the field have some standard measures that they look to, but I don’t know which.
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