About 35 companies and academic institutions are racing to create such a vaccine [for Wuhan coronavirus], at least four of which already have candidates they have been testing in animals. The first of these – produced by Boston-based biotech firm Moderna – will enter human trials in April. _ Guardian
NIH clinical trial of investigational vaccine starts today in Seattle
But Americans want an effective treatment right now! What’s to be done?
Old Style Blood Plasma Therapy to the Rescue
Takeda Pharmaceutical Corp. claims to have a viable therapy for novel coronavirus that is derived from the blood plasma of people who have recovered from the virus. This approach is reminiscent of 1800s-style therapies, before the age of antibiotics and long before the age of anti-virals and targeted vaccine designs.
The idea of using the blood of recovered patients with immunity to fight a disease goes back over a century, and was used during the recent H1N1 and Ebola epidemics…
The process to manufacture the therapy, using antibodies from recovered patients, is the same as Takeda’s other immunoglobulin products, which have approval from regulatory bodies around the world including the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Kim said. The company has not yet tested the therapy on any coronavirus patients.
The Japanese pharmaceutical company could have an edge because the treatment involves a process that already has approval from regulators. The key point in negotiations with regulators for approval is whether it has the necessary concentration of the antibody, or titer, needed to fight the Covid-19 disease, said Julie Kim, Zurich-based president of Takeda’s plasma-derived therapies unit.
… China National Biotec Group Co. has been using such plasma to treat seriously ill patients since Feb. 8, and claims they improved within 24 hours. __ Bloomberg
Human blood plasma contains many different antibodies to a wide range of micro-organisms. A person just recovering from a particular virus — such as a coronavirus — would be expected to have high numbers of antibodies specific to that virus.
Going back to the 1800s for viable therapies may sound like desperation. But what do you call it when a society shuts down most of its workplaces, schools, and social get-togethers?
Another approach: Monoclonal Antibodies
Regeneron’s drugs are what are known as monoclonal antibodies, proteins produced by the immune system that can neutralize pathogens. Regeneron’s antibodies are made in mice that have been genetically modified to have human-like immune systems, which means that, when they are given to a patient, his or her immune system will not attack the antibody…
… By mid-April, Regeneron said, it will be ready to start preparing to do large-scale manufacturing. If all goes perfectly, human clinical trials could begin by early summer.
Regeneron said in a press release that its scientists have isolated hundreds of virus-neutralizing antibodies from its mice, and more from patients who have recovered from Covid-19. It will choose two of these based on their potency and other “desirable qualities” like specificity, ability to be manufactured easily, and durability in the body. __ Regeneron Coronavirus Therapies
More treatments:
Working at a breakneck pace, a team of hundreds of scientists has identified 50 drugs that may be effective treatments for people infected with the coronavirus. __ Source
One of the test drugs was chloroquine, an anti-malarial
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41422-020-0282-0
Discoveries from Australia: here and here
China Knew Something Was Up as Far Back as November 2019
China’s behavior surrounding this pandemic has been vile from the beginning, and continues to be vile.
Sometime in late November the Chinese Communist Party apparat was aware that the ingredients of some sort of an epidemic were brewing in Wuhan. Soon after, it was also clear to them that a new type of coronavirus was on the loose, a threat they might have taken more seriously given the similar Chinese origins of the prior toxic SARS coronavirus and the resources of a Level 4 virology lab nearby.
Yet the government initially hid all that knowledge from its own people in particular and in general from the world at large. Translated into American terms, that disingenuousness ensured that over 10,000 Chinese nationals and foreigners living in China flew every day on direct flights into the United States (Washington and California especially) from late November to the beginning of February, until the Trump travel ban of January 31. __ Yahoo
Chinese Revisionist Propaganda Dominates Western Media
Western media outlets are doing the bidding of the communist party in Beijing.
Why are major media outlets in the United States running interference for the Chinese government? Several newspapers and cable news channels scrambled to decry any use of ‘Wuhan Virus’ as xenophobic and racist, after weeks of deploying the term themselves. This appeared to be a coordinated effort to deflect blame from China.
We hear a lot of whining from the press when they’re dubbed the ‘enemy of the people’… But when news outlets parrot the Chinese government and shield them from any responsibility for the global pandemic, under the guise of political correctness or distaste for the current administration, the moniker seems a lot more fitting.
… As COVID-19 spreads across the United States, mainstream outlets are publishing Chinese state apologia across the web, and China is leveraging their clear influence over these markets, using the Hong Kong protest blackouts as a blueprint. In recent weeks, three major national news outlets are guilty of this. The only question remains why.
On March 14, the New York Times published a column by Ian Johnson, whom they only identified as a writer based in Beijing. The piece was titled ‘China Bought the West Time[!]. The West Squandered It’. He insinuates that many countries stood by and watched while China heroically battled a contagion alone they themselves originated. He overlooks that the PRC did this by dragging citizens from their apartments or welding their doors to keep them in altogether. __ Chinese Finger Traps Western News Media
A list of websites for updates and news on the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreaks
Why the US is not “The Next Italy”
The catastrophic impact of novel coronavirus on Italy, Wuhan, and Iran, has stunned the world. It is easy to assume that all other nations and cities will suffer similar impacts from the virus. But is that a realistic assumption?
So, is Italy our future? Almost certainly not. To see why, the following is a figure depicting case-fatality rates by country for those reporting at least 500 confirmed cases and one death.
Notice that most EU countries, at least so far, are handling the crisis quite well. Germany, Austria, and the Scandinavian countries have low case-fatality rates. Spain, France, and the (former EU member!) United Kingdom are doing worse. The U.S. is right in the middle. While this graph certainly raises a lot of questions, the biggest question is not, “Is the U.S. the next Italy?” but, “What is wrong with Italy?”And we may have an answer to that question. An analysis by Andreas Backhaus shows that young people in Korea were much more likely to get infected (and hence survive) than in Italy, where a disproportionately large number of older people got infected (and hence died). We saw a microcosm of this in the Seattle area, where multiple people died in a single nursing home.
This isn’t the only reason that the U.S isn’t the next Italy. The U.S., by far, has more critical care (ICU) beds per capita than any other country in the world.
At 34.7 ICU beds per 100,000 people, the U.S. has nearly three times as many as Italy and almost ten times as many as China. While this doesn’t guarantee a wonderful outcome, it demonstrates that the U.S. has a critical care infrastructure that surpasses that of other nations. __ https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/03/16/coronavirus-us-not-next-italy-14636
The US government recently released a set of guidelines that encourages social distancing and other commonsense responses to the Wuhan virus. Perhaps when combined with new treatments, warmer weather, and the new vaccines that are beginning clinical trials, more people will begin to see beyond the immediate sense of panic that has been generated by an out of control news media.
An NIH clinical trial of remdesivir to treat novel Chinese coronavirus has begun at U. Nebraska Omaha. The first patient in the trial was infected on the Diamond Princess cruise ship and repatriated to Nebraska.
Interesting discussion of novel treatment options from Robert Kruse of Johns Hopkins via Marginal Revolution
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Why Panic Over Coronavirus, and Not Climate Apocalypse?
Perhaps because Wuhan Coronavirus is real, and is actually killing people?
Coronavirus is a recent, self-evident and rapidly escalating threat. It feels like a shock to the status quo, and the unease that shock engenders motivates action. Each day brings new evidence of the direct consequences of the outbreak, and these consequences are rapidly moving closer to home. It impresses as a clear and present danger that requires action now. __ https://www.sciencealert.com/the-coronavirus-response-shows-we-can-tackle-the-climate-crisis
Climate apocalypse, on the other hand, is a “massive catastrophe” that keeps receding in time as each prediction of apocalypse moves beyond its “sell-by date.”
Still, among the legions of “doomers,” at least a few of them are largely motivated by climate apocalypse. And by “climate apocalypse,” I mean Greta Thunberg-style lunatics with the will to sound the doomer gong, talk the doomer talk, and walk the doomer walk.
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