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References:
Hydroxychloroquine
https://w.ww.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31180-6/fulltext#
The use of hydroxychloroquine/ azithromycin was analyzed in a large multinational study published in Lancet in May 2020 concluded that “the use of a regimen containing hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine (with or without a macrolide) was associated with no evidence of benefit, but instead was associated with an increase in the risk of ventricular arrhythmias and a greater hazard for in-hospital death with COVID-19. The authors suggested that Hydroxychloroquine should not be used outside of clinical trials and urgent confirmation from randomized clinical trials is needed.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6933411-Open-Letter-the-Statistical-Analysis-and-Data.html
Findings recently published in Lancet are widely contested.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-sends-2-million-doses-of-hydroxychloroquine-to-brazil/ar-BB14Ss2R?ocid=spartandhp
Despite the fact that a small study of Hydroxychloroquine conducted in Brazil was halted because of the risk of fatal heart complications, the USA is sending 2 million doses of that drug to Brazil for health care worker prophylaxis and treatment of infected individuals.
https://www.aao.org/eyenet/article/hydroxychloroquine-induced-retinal-toxicity
Retinal toxicity from hydroxychloroquine is rare, but even if the medication is discontinued, vision loss may be irreversible and may continue to progress.
https://covid.idea.medicine.uw.edu/page/treatment/drugs/hydroxychloroquine-sulfate
Except in the context of a clinical trial, the Panel recommends against the use of the following drugs for the treatment of COVID-19: The combination of hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin (AIII) because of the potential for toxicities. The U.S. FDA-suggested dose is 800 mg orally on day 1, then 400 mg orally daily for 4-7 days of total treatment, with the total duration based on clinical status.
https://apple.news/AWzwbjBV5Tf2Cf-TykSmuYA
The World Health Organization announced Monday that it's suspending a trial of hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19, saying fears of the drug's potential danger are causing it to "err on the side of caution."
Ivermectin
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354220302011
A single treatment with Ivermectin was able to effect ~5000-fold reduction in SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus at 48 h in cell culture.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12362927/
Ivermectin was generally well tolerated, with no indication of associated CNS toxicity for doses up to 10 times the highest FDA-approved dose of 200 microg/kg.
https://www.researchprotocols.org/2016/4/e213/
Ivermectin has a wide therapeutic index and previous studies have shown doses up to 2000 mcg/kg (ie, 10 times the US Food and Drug Administration approved dose) are well tolerated and safe…
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.firstpost.com/tech/science/bangladesh-medical-team-says-ivermectin-with-antibiotic-doxycycline-works-to-treat-covid-19-patients-8381321.html/amp
Alam, a reputed clinician in Bangladesh, said a frequently used antiprotozoal medicine called Ivermectin in a single dose with Doxycycline, an antibiotic, yielded virtually the near-miraculous result in curing the patients with COVID-19. My team was prescribing the two medicines only for coronavirus patients, most of them initially reporting with respiratory problems with related complaints, later to be tested COVID-19 positive.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/05/19/world/americas/19reuters-health-coronavirus-bolivia-drug.html
Officials in the Bolivian city of Trinidad launched a campaign on Monday to give out free doses of the anti-parasite drug ivermectin in a bid to combat the coronavirus in the country's hard-hit eastern region. Authorities will go house-to-house to pass out some 350,000 doses of the drug to residents in the region of Beni, where Trinidad is the capital. The area has 581 confirmed cases and 41 coronavirus-related deaths.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/heres-exactly-where-were-at-with-vaccines-and-treatments-for-covid-19#Clinical-trial-stages
A detailed “fact checked” discussion of the “exact” status of potential treatment strategies for Covid-19 published on Healthine on May 26, 2020 does not mention Ivermectin.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00210-020-01902-5
Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug that has also shown an effective pharmacological activity towards various infective agents, including viruses. This paper proposes an alternative mechanism of action for this drug that makes it capable of having an antiviral action, also against the novel coronavirus, in addition to the processes already reported in literature.
https://www.trialsitenews.com/category/essentia-health/
Great Plains Health Systems Investigate Treatment Options for COVID-19 Patients: Ivermectin Study Planned
https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/ivermectin-market-2020-global-manufacturing-size-share-investment-opportunities-future-trends-market-impact-revenue-demand-and-analysis-by-forecast-2025-2020-05-26
This report gives a historical overview of the Ivermectin market trends, growth, revenue, capacity, cost structure, and key driver’s analysis. Final Report will add the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on this industry.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/bye/rQoPWwoRrXS9-i-wudNgpQDxudhWudNzlXNiZip9Ei7ym67VZRFnSgCj-g0JA6h9Ei4L3BUgWwNG0it.
Article entitled “The FDA-approved Drug Ivermectin Inhibits the Replication of SARS-CoV-2 in Vitro”
https://youtu.be/6W3cqiR2C_M
YouTube discussion of Ivermectin (which I enjoyed).
Potential Vaccine
https://innovationorigins.com/update-vaccine-against-corona-initial-oxford-clinical-trials-are-disappointing/
Oxford University’s first clinical trials with a potential corona vaccine have so far been disappointing. After the publication of the preliminary data, it was the American scientist Bill Haseltine in particular who sharply criticized Oxford University on Forbes.com. According to the university itself, however, some success has definitely been booked. For example, two-thirds of the unvaccinated animals showed clear signs of viral pneumonia when the autopsy was performed. This was not the same case in the vaccinated animals. The conclusion is that although the vaccinated animals were infected – the vaccine failed to protect them – the disease was very clearly less serious. But these results mean that the virus might still be transmissible via people who have been vaccinated this way.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/09/safety-concerns-over-vaccine-for-coronavirus-still-remain-says-expert.html
While vaccine developments have been accelerated, there are still concerns over safety for a COVID-19 vaccine, according to Jerome Kim, director-general of the International Vaccine Institute.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/02/covid-vaccine/607000/
The Article entitled: “You’re Likely to Get the Coronavirus” Lipsitch predicts that within the coming year, some 40 to 70 percent of people around the world will be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. But, he clarifies emphatically, this does not mean that all will have severe illnesses. “It’s likely that many will have mild disease, or may be asymptomatic,” he said. As with influenza, which is often life-threatening to people with chronic health conditions and of older age, most cases pass without medical care. (Overall, about 14 percent of people with influenza have no symptoms.) Lipsitch is far from alone in his belief that this virus will continue to spread widely. The emerging consensus among epidemiologists is that the most likely outcome of this outbreak is a new seasonal disease—a fifth “endemic” coronavirus. With the other four, people are not known to develop long-lasting immunity. If this one follows suit, and if the disease continues to be as severe as it is now, “cold and flu season” could become “cold and flu and COVID-19 season.” And coronaviruses could present a particular challenge in that at their core they, like influenza viruses, contain single strands of RNA. This viral class is likely to mutate, and vaccines may need to be in constant development, as with the flu. “If we’re putting all our hopes in a vaccine as being the answer, we’re in trouble,” Jason Schwartz, an assistant professor at Yale School of Public Health who studies vaccine policy, told me. The best-case scenario, as Schwartz sees it, is the one in which this vaccine development happens far too late to make a difference for the current outbreak.
https://news.yahoo.com/pharma-chiefs-see-coronavirus-vaccine-end-challenges-daunting-193407118.html
Pharmaceutical company executives said that one or several COVID-19 vaccines could begin rolling out before 2021, but warned the challenges would be "daunting" as it was estimated that 15 billion doses would be needed to halt the pandemic.
Additional Therapies
https://www.drugs.com/condition/covid-19.html
Currently, there are no FDA approved treatments for COVID-19.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.01.20086694v2
Preliminary, non-peer reviewed results from 1620 hospitalized patients (authors from Columbia University Medical Center and Mass General): Famotidine (Pepcid) use is associated with reduced risk of intubation or death in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Randomized controlled trials are warranted to determine whether famotidine therapy improves outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
