RE: Sars CoV 2 suppresses type I INF12 Apr 2021 13:02
Short answer is yes in part, the principle of the treatment is established by the overall literature and increases confidence in the results, but the results need to be there as the primciple refers to the mechanism of action of the active ingredient while approval is for a specific drug/indication/protocol.
For example, if there are studies that suggest that ifns are effective in patients with autoantibodies, one still needs to.show that with their drug it does in fact benefit those patients with ifn deficiencies. Or, after RMs recent comments, if literature suggests that ifnb can enhance antibody production im infected patients, one needs to show that with their drug actually does have that benefit in patients. If literature says that variants are even better that blocking ifn response but can still be tackled with ifns, one has to show that at least with some in vitro or even better animal studies.
Far and above all, there are 142 trials on clinicaltrials website that mentions interferons for covid19. Some of them (from china) include inhaled or "atomized" ifn alpha since beginning of February 2020 or March etc, in any case early. Beta seems the better option, but there are studies for that as well.
Also keep in mind that "E" in EUA means "emergency", which means for that they need to have meaningful quantities available NOW, perhaps doesn't have to be 100K treatments right now, but it does have to be something meaningful otherwise there is no point for an EUA and remember RM actually did say they are not going for EUA and they hope to apply for full approval in the summer. Assuming they have the data they need.