Member Info for JoeyDiamond

https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/15/science/ignored-aids-drug-shows-promise-in-small-tests.html

1989 - Dr Fauci was trialling interferon alpha for AIDs back in 1989.

Direct quote form the article
'Dr. Fauci said the growing evidence that interferon is effective against AIDS infections was so encouraging that AIDS patients who could not take AZT because of its side effects should consider taking alpha interferon instead of or in combination with AZT.
''I believe that alpha interferon is very promising,'' he said. ''Independent studies in the United States and Europe have clearly shown it is effective in Kaposi's sarcoma and that it has a significant effect'' against the AIDS virus.

So this notion that Fauci doesnt know much about interferon is a bit silly. As a Dr who was actually trialling interferon back in 1989 im sure he would have some excitement that interferon may be of use in Covid-19.

Hi Kenneth, all the best to your Dad. Here is further information on the sfx-01 trial.

https://www.lifearc.org/funding/covid-19-funding-2/sfx-01/

Trial based out of Dundee using Lifearc funding (charity) for 300 patients.

A major challenge in the treatment of COVID-19 is the development of slowly worsening lung damage, known as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). This requires intensive care treatment with ventilation until the inflammation is resolved and the lungs can heal.

Nrf2 is a transcription factor (a naturally-occurring protein) which forms part of the body’s defences against inflammatory and oxidative stress, such as the inflammation that occurs during a severe viral infection. It is hypothesised that increasing the levels of active Nrf2 in patients with COVID-19 could improve recovery and prevent the need for ventilation.

The Professor recommends the drug and the trial so I would go with his expertise and sign up.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanrhe/article/PIIS2665-9913(21)00012-6/fulltext

Was researching for another share but this is relevent for TILs.

A study from Milan, Italy on Interleukin-1 and interleukin-6 inhibition compared with standard management in patients with COVID-19 and hyperinflammation.

Quotes
Patients with severe COVID-19 develop a life-threatening hyperinflammatory response to the virus. Interleukin (IL)-1 or IL-6 inhibitors have been used to treat this patient population, but the comparative effectiveness of these different strategies remains undetermined. We aimed to compare IL-1 and IL-6 inhibition in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, respiratory insufficiency, and hyperinflammation.

In summary, IL-1 inhibition, but not IL-6 inhibition, was associated with a significant reduction of mortality in a large cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 and hyperinflammation. IL-6 inhibition was only effective in a subgroup of patients with markedly high C-reactive protein concentrations, whereas both IL-1 inhibition and IL-6 inhibition were more effective in patients with low lactate dehydrogenase concentrations.

Do we know who the 3rd party is who made the call in request?

Possibly Mark Culbert has been reading wallstreetbets and thinks the silver squeeze is on haha

Remarkable values thats a good way of putting it :)

https://twitter.com/MartinLandray/status/1356870244665618434

No effect of azithromycin on mortality among patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19

Azithromycin is an antibiotic.

Not sure why you have complained. The post is factual.

Sweden, Poland, Belgium and Italy approve for under 55s only
Germany, France and Austria approve for under 65s only

All cite lack of data in AZN trials to be confident
a) The vaccine works in the older age groups .
b) 12 weeks between doses is giving higher efficacy.

We hope the AZN vaccines works and save lives, but we score an own goal if the data is flawed and not giving a correct result.

https://twitter.com/MartinLandray/status/1356689416870363136

52 people recruited in 1st day for new baricitimib drug trial on Recovery. SNG uk arm would be filled in like 4-5 days lol.

Not sure if thats a troll post to SNG ;)

Monoclonal antibody treatments in general are not doing well vs the variants. Regeneron and Eli lily for example the variants have either partially/completely escaped neutralisation. The big money spinner for AZN in the pandemic is the mAbs treatment it is developing. As the virus mutates the likelyhood is it will render AZN treatment ineffective too.

Investors are possibly weighing this news in the SP.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/02/monoclonal-antibodies-great-hope-in-covid-treatments-fails-against-variants

Definately not with this trial design and size.

I think im lucky no one in my family, neighbours, friends circle have died or even got hospitalised from Covid-19.

Loss of smell and breathlessness were the only symptoms from mild covid I know.

Next week US and EU starts dosing in multiple countries. Serbia has 5 sites alone. Parexel remember are dedicated to doing a fast trial in non UK countries.

So the 2 per day on average will massively increase to around 20+ per day as more sites come online.

I would worry with those results not giving a true picture.

Issue 1 - Headline Result
'CT scans of the lungs showed the improvement was approximately double that shown in patients treated with Foralumab as compared to those in the control group.'

The control group used had no actual treatments in use so results will look good. I wonder what the results would be against a proper standard of care placebo. SOC ie with Dex you would see much improved lung CT scans using this drug. There may not be much difference between the 2 drugs?

Issue 2 - Steroids
'Many patients had received steroids prior to enrollment in the trial but those patients stopped taking steroids on enrolling in the study. Thus, the cohort 2 included priming with 3 days of orally administered dexa along with 10 days of treatment with nasally administered Foralumab to assess if inclusion of Dexa may affect the action of Foralumab. There were no significant differences between cohort 2 and 3.

Looks to be an issue when used with steroids to me. There is a drop off in efficacy when used with Dex from the table posted. There was no 'significant' differences is how they put it. In cohort 2 they 'primed' the patient for 3 days with Dex. I'm guessing that means they gave Dex for first 3 days and on day 4 started Foralumab treatment? The average treatment course for Dex is 6 mg once a day orally for 7 to 10 days / (three 2 mg tablets or 15 ml of 2 mg/5 ml oral solution) So how well does it perform running alongside Dexamethasone for 10 full days in standard of care?

Compare to Dex alone
Does it reduce mortality?
Time to recovery?
Does it prevent worsening disease?

The big questions is how well it performs against standard of care.

Yes spontaneously popped up in multiple locations independently. This suggests natural evolution of the virus will incorporate E484K once selection pressure is applied. Other countries in near future will likely see similar mutations.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1356365178330378251

Now picked up by twitter - UK govt may have to come clean and tell us it may not be the SA variant

This is not good.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/957504/Variant_of_Concern_VOC_202012_01_Technical_Briefing_5_England.pdf

Detection of E484K mutation in B.1.1.7 VOC 202012/01
The COG-UK dataset (total sequences 214,159) was analysed on 26/01/2021. The spike protein mutation E484K (found in VOC 202012/02 B1.351 and VOC 202101/02 P1) has been detected in 11 B1.1.7 sequences. Preliminary information suggests more than one acquisition event.

Sense the main stream media narrative changing here....

EMA approved at 59.5% efficacy based on AZN's clincial trial data.

The 90% number was based on a small sample size in the UK that excluded anyone over 55 years old and had iirc just 6 events. This cohort was also an accident due to a dosing error. Hardly a basis to give any confidence in a result.

Similar the AZN trial data gave just 6% vaccine efficacy for over 65's. Similar to the 90% number the data cannot be trusted as sample size far too small so results can easily be skewed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55889391

Urgent testing for the South Africa variant of coronavirus is to start in parts of England, after cases were found with no known links to travel or previous cases. Door to door testing planned for Woking.

If the South Africa variant spreads (E484K) mutation it will be a major issue for UK governments delayed dose strategy.

Phizer after 1 dose - In the elderly population 7/15 people tested in Gupta lab did not neutralise the SA variant. Only 3 weeks after 2nd dose did these same people neutralise the virus.
Astra after 2 does is 59.5% efficacy - we do not know what level of protection over 65s get nor how good it is after 1 dose vs SA variant.

As you can see this SA variant needs to be nipped in the bud urgently though rapid testing/tracing and isolating people.