Member Info for TorquayFan

Nom I read somewhere reasonable, that Pascal Soriot is claiming that the Oxford / AZ vaccine is now showing 100% protection, against the disease in Covid infected Patients progressing to the stage of Hospital admission. Should be a very interesting announcement when it comes ?

How did that come out of the bag ? Approval soon and rollout next week ?

That would be good. GLA

I am sure that Pascal Soriot has indeed, 'figured it out', and I hope he's right ! No one would suggest he's making it up as he goes along, but 70% to 95% is quite a jump !

"The pharmaceutical boss behind the Oxford vaccine says researchers have found a "winning formula" to improve the jab's efficacy. Trials of the vaccine, developed by the university along with AstraZeneca, showed an efficacy rate of 90% when people were given half a dose followed by a whole dose at least a month later. When two full doses were given at least a month apart, the vaccine had an efficacy of 62%, meaning that - when all the results were taken into account, the overall efficacy was 70%. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were shown to be 95% and 94.5% effective respectively. Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, told the Sunday Times: "We think we have figured out the winning formula and how to get efficacy that, after two doses, is up there with everybody else. "I can't tell you more because we will publish at some point." "
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/astrazeneca-boss-think-weve-figured-005400663.html

It'd better be good Boss !

https://youtu.be/IvY-Abd2FfM Https://youtu.be/IvY-Abd2FfM

I'm sure you've all seen C4's alternative Queen's speech by now.
Hilarious ! hTTps://youtu.be/IvY-Abd2FfM

Thanks for the links - a fascinating and promising addition to a range of treatments AND "this technique was already used post-exposure for other viruses like rabies, and chickenpox in pregnant people." Let's hope that goes well . . . . one para from the BBC link . .

" "The jab works by "donating" antibodies, Dr Houlihan said - "it skips out that stage of your body doing the work" to make them. "We know that this antibody combination can neutralise the virus, so we hope to find that giving this treatment via injection can lead to immediate protection against the development of Covid-19 in people who have been exposed - when it would be too late to offer a vaccine." "

again https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/health-55438758?

. . . wishing you all that HC bit and you too C7. Take care. Good luck AND come on Scancell !

Crikey - we (the UK) got something else right, LOL ! (I always enjoy A E-P in the DT but a combatant elsewhere maintains - 'nothing he writes ever comes true'). A few weeks ago I wondered about the escalation in Wales, despite it's lockdown. I guess this mutation might have been to blame ? And in Germany? So the UK is the CV-19 variant leper of Europe ? Not so !

"Macron's lorry ban is utterly pointless - mutant Covid is already all over Europe. The irony is that Britain will soon be riding to rescue the Continent - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 21 December 2020.

Emmanuel Macron’s ban on lorries entering France wins the prize for the most pointless political gesture since the onset of this pandemic. The mutant strain B.1.1.7 is already all over Europe. British scientists spotted it early and have tracked it in real-time because the UK has carried out almost as much genome sequencing of Covid-19 as the rest of the world combined. Harvard epidemiologist William Hanage says the UK has the most advanced genomic monitoring regime on the planet.

Denmark is one of the few other states in Europe that also does extensive and rapid sequencing. Lo and behold, the Danes have found the same mutation. Many countries do little or no genomic sequencing at all. It stretches credulity to imagine that a variant picked up in samples as far back as September is not already rampant in Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and indeed France. It had months to run when borders were wide open, long before the second lockdowns.

The spectacle of Britain cut off from the world as a leper-state in viral quarantine is unlikely to last more than a few days. The selective discounting of sterling and UK financial assets is the fleeting reaction of skittish markets trying to find their way through the fog" . . . . .

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/12/21/mutant-covid-strain-means-even-trouble-europe/

Thanks CC for the link. To clarify, this WCG medium monitors both FDA and EMA matters. It is great to see Scancell getting noticed in the USA is it not ! At first I wondered if it was a comment from the FDA itself . . .

Thanks Bermuda and CC again for the MDPI spot.

Hasiba - ooops ! Sorry about that. But I did see something about being allowed to share 20 (?) articles a month . . . never mind. Ivy the cancel date is already in the diary. Crikey - $67 !
Nice bit of blue - lovely !

and again . . . .

"Britain has long been criticised by the pharma industry for the slow rate at which the NHS adopts new medicines. An analysis commissioned by Pfizer in 2017 identified Britain as a laggard in the speed at which patients received new treatments, with a 75 per cent lower uptake of new drugs in their first year of release compared to France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and the US. Later that year, the UK’s life sciences industrial strategy set a goal that Britain “should be in the top quartile of comparator countries, both for the speed of adoption and the overall uptake of innovative, cost-effective products, to the benefit of all UK patients by the end of 2023”.

Under the new plan, the NICE and its Scottish equivalent, the Scottish Medicines Consortium — the bodies which determine whether a treatment offers value for money — would be “in the room” from early in the development process. Companies would be given immediate feedback on what a drug trial would need to demonstrate, and what data it would need to generate, to have the best chance of receiving a positive assessment. Patients’ views and priorities will also be integrated into the development process. "

I think that's it LOL. Nice bit of blue ! Thanks FT !

. . . "The executive argued that a far bigger overhaul was needed of the framework that NICE uses to calculate value-for-money. A review of the agency’s methodology is under way and any changes are expected to be announced in the spring."

That was -"UK to fast-track drug trials to boost post-Brexit life sciences".

Hasiba - I had to subscribe $1 and all contributions will be most welcome - (it seems to have pasted OK atm). ATB

I spent $1 and here it is - (please remind me to cancel within 30 days or it goes up to $67 LOL) .

"Drugmakers will be offered fast-tracked approvals for innovative medicines in the UK as ministers seek to build on the country’s world-leading approval of a Covid vaccine and attract life sciences companies to invest post-Brexit. The UK’s medicines regulator will become independent of EU pharmaceutical rulemaking when Britain quits the European Medicines Agency at the end of the year, which means companies will need to apply separately to register drugs.

With ministers eager to try to refashion the UK as a post-Brexit hub for global life sciences, companies with drugs that promise to treat unmet medical needs will be offered help through the development process, including manufacturing, according to three people familiar with the situation. Under the so-called Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway, companies are set to be offered the same rolling review of data that speeded approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine ahead of the rest of the world. The move will also try to counter the threat that pharmaceutical companies will push Britain to the back of the queue for drugs given it accounts for just 3 per cent of global pharma sales. Officials and some National Health Service staff fear that new medicines will be delayed in the UK if companies are discouraged by the extra bureaucracy from seeking approval from the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. One person familiar with the plans said that “life sciences can be one of the things at the centre of the UK’s post-Brexit policies”.

The UK is still locked in eleventh hour talks with the European Commission over a trade deal, with disagreements remaining over fisheries and the fair competition level playing field. The person added: “[Ministers] want [the UK] to be seen as a place where people come to develop innovative medicines. That’s why they were over the moon about the Covid vaccine being the first [to be approved] in the world.” However, one industry figure, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was sceptical that a company would tailor its trials and data generation to the demands of the British market.

“A company is not going to do data just for NICE [National Institute for Health and Care Excellence] when the UK is a fraction of global pharma sales; it’s not going to spend millions on studies just for the UK,” they added.

(cont'd)

That's right Ray. Though I am out of touch with the technicalities of these situations, it doesn't take a genius to realise that any interest of that kind is very likely to have a dramatic effect on the SP. We have a 'tiger by the tail' - it's plain to see.

Bunsie - thanks to you for sharing and your Friend for the script !

Are we saying that Ruck is a genius or that 08.50 was disingenuous ? On the former, well of course we all know that (wink), but to call Ruck's post 'disingenuous' is a bit hard IMO.

Nice to see that bit of blue . . . .

Krafty - just another 'layman's' view, but doesn't this statement in the RNS imply that transmission will be reduced ? i.e. " induces strong T cell responses to both the S and N proteins to destroy virally-infected cells and prevent further viral replication". Surely infected persons with lower viral loads are likely to transmit less or not at all ?

I guess we'll have to wait to get a definitive answer.

. . . . and of course, an overshadowing fact is we don't yet know in practice, how long the immunity from '1G' vaccinations will last. Come on Scancell ! (and Karolinska !)

Thanks Crumbs. Scancell in eminent Company again !

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/12/16/covid-christmas-shambles-foreshadows-divisive-despotism-come/

Hope you don't mind Ray, I've clipped this for a recap from yours earlier, as I am hoping to see some more thoughts on this from Ivy and others.

""Main contributors were Sally Adams of Scancell, Daniel Smith of Cobra (the company chosen to manufacture Covidity) and Matti Salberg of Karolinska. All agreed that a big problem is manufacture and keeping billions of people immunised and that 2nd gen vaccines have to bring something extra over and above those of the 1st generation.

Sally explained exactly what that extra is in the case of Covidity. She emphasied
a) the extra avidity provided by Avidimab, b) the targeting of the N protein, c) Immune memory.

Daniel Smith emphasised the ease of producing DNA vaccines when compared to other types. It would be difficult to prove 2nd gen vaccines on the older population since most will have been vaccinated already. Interesting that Matti's view was that it was more important to prove it works on younger people since they are more likely to spread the virus."

Two points - is there any indication as to whether 'Covidity' or another 2nd 'G' might help prevent transmission as well as giving immunity ? I was also surprised to see Karolinska involved - what's their part in this ? MOVING ON - a long way to go and timescales are such that a '2G' might well be in time to play a part . . . . from the DT today, the nub of concerns : ". . . here’s a shuddering thought. Perhaps this Christmas fiasco is not merely a shambolic end to a shambolic year but a lurid presage to 2021. The Government doesn’t dare admit it, but despite the arrival of a vaccine, we are nowhere near over the hump. The more astute will have noticed that the PM has been reluctant to confirm or deny that restrictions will end once the vulnerable are vaccinated. The bad news ministers don’t trust you enough to tell you is that inoculating at-risk groups by spring is not necessarily a ticket to freedom. This is a baseless public and media assumption, supported in theory by a tiny and marginalised group of lockdown-heretic professors. In fact, if the scientific mainstream gets its way, lockdowns may have to continue until we reach Zero Covid. To many sceptics, this will sound like the deranged absolutism of academics who must surely now be put back into their box by our democratically elected leaders. But many will find the argument of leading experts – including Sage advisers – compelling. They reason that, if we don’t aim for near total elimination of Covid, there is a higher risk that the virus will become endemic. As with flu, tens of thousands will die every year, at a cost of tens of billions to the economy in sick days and healthcare. Saddled with a new seasonal disease, the public might well turn on the Tories at the next election. By extension of this logic, lockdowns would have to remain in place as our only weapon to drive down cases until almost the entire population is vaccinated, which may take until late 2021."