Coronavirus vaccines and medications: new developments

This post would be more suitable for this thread:

Let’s keep this for general developments!

OK! I thought those were “details and developments.”

So you envision this thread to be about vaccine related matters not related to Taiwan?

Guy

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Well they are details and developments certainly, fair point. But yes, we have Taiwan specific threads for that. I hate very long titles; if it seems necessary in the future I’ll make it more specific.

Maybe add something like “(not Taiwan related)”? :man_shrugging:

Guy

I’ll add it in the OP and we’ll see!

So what do ya think ?

BBC News - Covid antiviral pill can halve risk of hospitalisation

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I think it is good.

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Better than a vaccine ?

This shouldn’t be in the Humbug thread, this should be in the Yeah! thread.

If we can really get a few of these things mass produced, hopefully the covid fear-cultists will finally be placated.

I’d prefer to take a pill IF I get sick as apposed to a booster every six to eight months even when I have a very low chance of dying from covid. It isn’t either/or though, is it?

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Have any of you guys and gals checked details about this drug yet ? :thinking:

In my opinion it is far more dangerous than any vaccine on the market. It is also a great innovation but must be used with a lot of caution .

Is it the part of your article which states “ The pill, which was originally developed to treat influenza, is designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus, preventing it from spreading in the body” that worries you? That certainly made me stop and say “huh?”.

Yes. I looked into it.
It’s actually a powerful drug that must be used with caution. Women of child bearing age need to be on the pill and men must not be actively trying to procreate. The danger is to embryos or our sex gametes. The drug targets the RNA polymerase of the virus , every so often incorporating the wrong base pairs into RNA and accumulating errors as it replicates , but also could potentially cause some mutations in rapidly dividing human cells (similar to how some powerful chematherapeutic agents work).
I don’t think this is a drug that folks could take Willy nilly (pardon the pun). However it is remarkably effective at cutting the death rate. So for older people this drug could still be super useful.

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Understandable concern, although quite a few antiviral drugs are nucleoside analogs, and some are contraindicated during pregnancy. Did they mention specific concerns with this one?

Just this and also for people who may conceive a baby.
This is not a small thing if folks are thinking they could take it as a prophylactic or if its going to be used very widely without proper medical supervision.

Merck says it’s not capable of ‘changing human cells’. Not so sure about that but they have the experts there and one would think they have previous safety data from influenza trials…

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AstraZeneca’s (AZN.L) antibody cocktail against COVID-19, which has proven to work as a preventative shot in the non-infected, was also shown to save lives and prevent severe disease when given as treatment within a week of first symptoms.

The drug, a combination of two antibodies called AZD7442, reduced the risk of severe COVID-19 or death by 50% in non-hospitalised patients who have had symptoms for seven days or less, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said on Monday.

The risk reduction was even better in patients who started therapy within just five days of initial symptoms, but AstraZeneca joins an already crowded field of medicines that were shown to prevent deterioration in patients with mild disease when given soon after diagnosis.

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Of potential interest to forumosans:

Guy

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My concern is as soon as these pass trial and are authorized there will be a new variant. (But with Omicron being so super contagious and dominant, maybe not.)

It does feel like we’re playing whack-a-mole doesn’t it.

At least these guys are trying to chase down a (part of a) solution.

Guy

news about the medigen vaccine from Paraguay. Anybody who can translate? Says its better than AZ?