One by one, the treatments against the coronavirus that are tested in Argentina

Vanesa Lopez

09/18/2020 - 13:11

• Clarín.com

• Society

In our country, different treatments for

patients are being investigated

, with the aim of mitigating the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The use of medications, nebulisations with ibuprofen, the transfusion of convalescent plasma and the application of equine serum are some of the therapeutic tools that are being tested.

Here's a summary of

.

Changes in the Solidarity essay

The

is part of the international trial

, launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) to find an effective treatment against Covid-19.

The country participates in the initiative with about 300 patients and ten hospitals in the Metropolitan Area of ​​Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba and Chaco.

“The news is encouraging because today it is the study with the

in the world: it has exceeded 11 thousand.

And the first publication is almost ready ”,

the infectologist

, in charge of the trial at the national level

, told

.

Hydroxychloroquine did not provide any benefit.

Photo DPA.

"The study underwent some small modifications in its design, replacing the two drugs that came out —hydroxychloroquine and kaletra— and entering a new drug called

, whose action is to fight against the stage of the disease that is characterized by the cytokine storm" , said the infectologist.

For Lopardo, Solidaridad was a key study in showing that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir-ritonavir (kaletra) "were subtle treatments, that is, they

."

“The impact of

is also being analyzed

The Solidaridad study has enrolled more patients on remdesivir than all the other smaller studies that were done.

So it can probably give us some results as well, ”says Lopardo.

Remdesivir showed positive effects in the treatment of coronavirus.

Photo EFE.

For his part,

, director of the Center for Argentine Pharmaceutical Professionals (Ceprofar), commented that of the antivirals studied in Solidaridad, "remdesivir is the only one that went through all the necessary stages to

."

One problem with this drug is that in the United States it costs

.

“There is an issue in Argentina for the price and the possibility that compulsory licenses will eventually be granted for national production at cheaper prices.

There are already presentations in that sense ”, says Sajem.

Ibuprofenate, a Cordoba invention

Argentine researchers created a

that proposes, through

, to prevent people infected with covid-19 from needing a respirator.

It is applied to the patient with a kind of

, twice a day, with a measure of 50 mg. 

“In this nebulizing therapy we have already shown that

.

It is also being used against the covid in Great Britain, but in ingestible tablets ”, explained to Clarín Néstor García, the Conicet researcher who developed the project at the Center of Excellence in Products and Processes of Córdoba (Ceprocor).

However, the National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Technology (Anmat) has already issued two statements saying that luarprofen - the brand name for nebulizable ibuprofen -

.

Equipment for the application of inhaled ibuprofen.

Photo Télam.

"[La Anmat] clarifies it to

and because no formal presentation has been made. In Córdoba it is authorized as a medicine, but only for compassionate use. All the other studies that are done are clinical trials, still in very early stages previous

studies

and with very few patients.

", emphasizes Sajem.

In the province of Salta, this treatment was approved as 

.

More than 1,600 plasma donors

Our country is conducting several clinical trials on the use of plasma (the liquid part of the blood) donated by people who already had covid-19 and which is then administered to those who are suffering from the disease. 

In the province of Buenos Aires, there were already 1,209 donors and 3,000 people transfused.

In addition, they published the

, carried out in 272 moderate and severe patients admitted to hospitals in that district.

Plasma donation at the Tres de Febrero Regional Hemotherapy Center.

Photo Guillermo Rodríguez Adami.

According to their results, a

was recorded

after the application of plasma in 81.4% of the patients admitted to the floor, in 70.9% of those who were in intensive care units (ICU) and in 39 , 6% of those admitted to ICU with mechanical ventilation. 

In the City, there are ten public hospitals with plasma research protocols.

In total, 

conducted the interview to donate plasma, of which 438 met the requirements and have already donated;

559 patients received plasma.

But on these practices they have not yet published results. 

Equine serum

Treatment with 

is under investigation.

The starting point of the procedure is to inoculate a horse with a recombinant protein isolated from the virus, an operation that experts assure is safe for the animal. 

So, the horses generate a lot of neutralizing antibodies.

then

 in a process similar to that used when obtaining plasma from people, called apheresis.

From each blood drawn from a horse, 300 treatments can be obtained.

These antibodies are purified, processed, and then

by intravenous infusion - as a serum is applied - for about 50 minutes.

They are two doses separated from each other by 48 hours.

In July, Anmat approved the research protocol for the phase 2/3 clinical study.

It

currently

in the City, Province of Buenos Aires, Neuquén and Tucumán.

242 volunteers with covid-19 with moderate to severe symptoms participate.

Almost 60% of the clinical study has been completed.

According to Sajem, the production of equine serum is based on the same principles as plasma, but horses are very good producers of antibodies.

“If a positive result were obtained, it would obtain

and greater production capacity than can be achieved with the plasma of convalescent patients.

But the final demonstration is missing ”, he concluded.

LGP / DD

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