Press Conference at 6pm to announce major good Covid Therapeutic news

[northvanole]

I am guessing that it is related to the phase 3 test of a therapeutic drug developed by Regeneron that is being tested to both help cure those infected and those that are in close contacts with infected people, but who themselves are not infected. It is my understanding that the drug is in deep phase 3 with regard to uninfected people, but in a combined phase 2/3 to treat those that are infected. This was the drug that the US pumped about $425M into in the first week of July. Roche, a Swiss based competitor, was developing a different drug. All of a sudden - last week - Roche dropped its own development and has now teamed up with Regeneron to create worldwide distribution. This never would have happened unless Roche reviewed the test results. Roche will handle all non US distribution.

I am only guessing that this is the news. But the announcement of the 6 pm press conference is very real.

 

[FSUDoles]

I am guessing that it is related to the phase 3 test of a therapeutic drug developed by Regeneron that is being tested to both help cure those infected and those that are in close contacts with infected people, but who themselves are not infected. It is my understanding that the drug is in deep phase 3 with regard to uninfected people, but in a combined phase 2/3 to treat those that are infected. This was the drug that the US pumped about $425M into in the first week of July. Roche, a Swiss based competitor, was developing a different drug. All of a sudden - last week - Roche dropped its own development and has now teamed up with Regeneron to create worldwide distribution. This never would have happened unless Roche reviewed the test results. Roche will handle all non US distribution.

I am only guessing that this is the news. But the announcement of the 6 pm press conference is very real.

Excellent news...

 

[Dr. Nole]

Great news!

 

[SoddyNole]

Great news.

 

[daveynole]

Who's holding the press conference?

 

[northvanole]

It's a combination of Trump, the head of HHS and the head of the FDA. I wouldn't have bothered posting the news if the head of the FDA wasn't there. I don't know if it's about the specific therapeutic I noted, or if the FDA is allowing a wide range of therapeutics be allowed for emergency treatment.

 

[ChiefWB]

Allegedly it is to announce emergency authorization to use blood plasma treatment in infected patients.

 

[bryanscho]

Allegedly it is to announce emergency authorization to use blood plasma treatment in infected patients.

A friends dad was treated this way and on the way to recovery. Are they not allowed to do this now?

 

[ChiefWB]

A friends dad was treated this way and on the way to recovery. Are they not allowed to do this now?

Apparently the can’t agree on dosage, when to administer etc. I have heard nothing but success stories but in this climate nothing surprises me.

 

[northvanole]

Apparently the can’t agree on dosage, when to administer etc. I have heard nothing but success stories but in this climate nothing surprises me.

News reports came out a month ago that the blood plasma was not approved for emergency cases, and I was shocked. Plasma therapy has been around for years. I thought the only issue was finding enough donors. Apparently there was a power struggle between the NIH and the FDA. But it's the FDA domain to release it.

 

[BriSape23]

Not the most exciting news, but progress. Was hoping for a real therapeutic and this can be, but not the same as medication. Of course they haven't created one for the Flu yet so I know this is not easy.

Glad it wasn't HCQ again.

 

[F4Gary]

There has been some positive results with Ivermectin also.

 

[rpcfsu]

A friends dad was treated this way and on the way to recovery. Are they not allowed to do this now?

This is an incremental positive step. Blood Plasma has been available For Covid but this may make it more broadly available. I’m not sure why it warranted a press conference. Feels politic-ish to me. Hope to hear good news from vaccine trials in early October. Early news would likely means seeing 70-80% effectiveness versus ~50% If new breaks in Nov. Fingers crossed.

 

[ChiefWB]

This is an incremental positive step. Blood Plasma has been available For Covid but this may make it more broadly available. I’m not sure why it warranted a press conference. Feels politic-ish to me. Hope to hear good news from vaccine trials in early October. Early news would likely means seeing 70-80% effectiveness versus ~50% If new breaks in Nov. Fingers crossed.

Go read CNN and MSNBC. They are already casting doubt over its efficacy. And I think anything that can get us back to normalcy deserves a press conference. People need to know their options and certainly can't rely on the media to not play politics.

 

[rpcfsu]

Go read CNN and MSNBC. They are already casting doubt over its efficacy. And I think anything that can get us back to normalcy deserves a press conference. People need to know their options and certainly can't rely on the media to not play politics.

I don’t read or watch CNN or MSNBC. I have access to some very prominent ID physicians. I’m glad the FDA granted a EUA for plasma but there are two knows here:

1) Folks have/haD access to plasma treatments outside of clinical trials Mayo has done a good job here.

2) there is NOT compelling efficacy data for blood plasma treatments. Is it safe? Yes. Has there been demonstrated placebo controlled studies showing marked efficacy? No

We are seeing anecdotal reports of early intervention of blood plasma showing some benefit. To say this is a breakthrough, it is not. For those who it’s worked for, they believe in it. Are there politics being played today? Yes, it appears that way to me. That being said, I hope we see this treatment save lives and help mitigate the virus until we have a vaccine. Fingers crossed!!

 

[goldmom]

I look forward to the day when science tells us they've found a way to beat this virus, for the good of the planet. Not some cable network screaming one viewpoint or another. I'm so fed up with that.

 

[BriSape23]

Go read CNN and MSNBC. They are already casting doubt over its efficacy. And I think anything that can get us back to normalcy deserves a press conference. People need to know their options and certainly can't rely on the media to not play politics.

You do realize all media outlets are more opinion than news, including Fox and OAN. Telling someone to go watch something because it differs from your opinion is a bit pedantic.

While we are all hungry and hopeful for positive news, plasma was already an option many knew about but is not the panacea to cure this infection so doubt it warranted a press conference as a major announcement.

In an election year, of course this was political and either side would have done it.

 

[northvanole]

There was never a safety issue with the plasma procedure. Admittedly - There was no controlled test with “placebo”. The reason for emergency use is to allow safe treatments that have not been fully tested for efficacy to be used for very sick patients. In this case, the blood plasma treatment is only being used for very ill patients in the hospital. It would be evil to use placebos on this group when the patient agrees to accept the plasma because there is no alternative. Remdesivir is treated this way.

It is shocking to me that it took this long to allow very sick patients to use a safe procedure, even though it hasn’t completed the double blind placebo test. If this cured HIV, makes my head spin how fast certain political groups would demand access to the treatment. My recollection of the 1980’s is that this is exactly what happened for all the failed, but safe, treatments that the FDA would not allow HIV patients to use.

Do we need an ACT UP for coronavirus?