Vanesa Lopez
08/04/2020 - 16:38
- Clarín.com
- Society
Adding to the race to develop a vaccine to prevent the coronavirus is another competition between the main laboratories and a challenge that burns the eyelashes of the world's scientists. The search for new and effective drugs for those who are taking covid-19 .
Several trials of treatment "candidates" are currently underway. In a report, the national Ministry of Health detailed that, as of July 13, almost 200 therapeutic options or their combinations were being investigated in more than 1,700 clinical trials .
"The most encouraging results come from the use of dexamethasone and remdesivir , each with moderate levels of evidence and particularities in the presentation of information and its results," added that work carried out by the National Commission for Health Technology Assessment (CONETEC ).
Of course, a "promise" or "hope" today can be the great disappointment of tomorrow. For example, in several countries - including Argentina - clinical trials with hydroxychloroquine (an antimalarial drug promoted by the French infectologist Didier Raoult and United States President Donald Trump) and the combination lopinavir and ritonavir (used for treat HIV). They showed no significant effects in the covid-19 patients.
This Monday, the American pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Companyannounced the start of phase 3 of a clinical trial to determine whether one of its experimental covid-19 antibody treatments can prevent virus infection in residents and staff of nursing homes in the United States.
Facade of the Lilly company unit in France (Reuters).
Called LY-CoV555, it is a neutralizing antibody against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes covid-19. The study will evaluate its efficacy and safety in preventing transmission and to determine if a single dose reduces the infection rate in four weeks, as well as complications of covid-19 in eight weeks, the company said.
More than 40% of coronavirus deaths in the United States are linked to nursing homes , creating the urgent need for therapies to prevent coronavirus in this vulnerable population.
"Covid-19 has had a devastating effect on nursing home residents," said Daniel Skovronsky, president of Lilly Research Laboratories . "We are working as fast as we can to create medicines that can stop the spread of the virus to these vulnerable individuals," he continued.
The study, the first of its kind , is expected to include 2,400 participants who live or work in centers that have recently been diagnosed with a case of covid-19 and are now at increased risk of exposure .
Approved medications
A health worker shows an ampule of Remdesivir (EFE).
The antiviral remdesivir - initially developed against Ebola - was the first approved treatment for coronavirus. In the United States, he received an emergency use authorization. And the European Commission (EC) authorized its use in Europe, after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended it. It is indicated in adolescents (over 12 years old) and adults with pneumonia who require supplemental oxygen.
Tablets of favipiravi in a pharmacy in Mumbai, India (EFE).
Another drug approved in some countries is favipiravir , an antiviral that is taken orally and was designed to fight the flu. It is already used in Russia and India for the treatment of mild and moderate symptoms of covid-19. Target the viral RNA to stop the virus from spreading.
Drugs in advanced phase
* Dexamethasone . It is a low-cost, 60-year-old generic drug used to treat ailments such as rheumatism, asthma, and allergies. His study linked to covid-19 is in phase 3 and is considered one of the most "promising" . It is indicated for patients with hypoxemia or moderate / severe disease.
A pharmacist shows the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone (Bloomberg).
* Anakinra. It is a drug that silences the protein interleukin-1. Their study is in phase 3, to evaluate the efficacy and safety in reducing hyperinflammation and respiratory distress in patients with covid-19.
* Ruxolitinib. It is a drug that is usually used with hematological patients, against the rejection of the organism during a bone marrow transplant. It is in phase 3 research to treat the coronavirus. We seek to evaluate its efficacy and safety in patients with cytokine storm associated with covid-19.
Production of the drug levilimab in Saint Petersburg, Russia (Reuters).
* Levilimab. It is a drug originally developed to treat rheumatoid arthritis. It showed the first positive results for the coronavirus. The clinical trial is in phase 3, and it is being tested for the new coronavirus at 11 clinical trial centers in Russia.
• Tocilizumab. The Roche firm last week provided an update on the phase 3 study of this drug, the active ingredient of Actemra / RoActemra: it did not achieve its primary objective of improving clinical status in hospitalized adult patients with severe covid-19 pneumonia, nor the secondary objective of reducing mortality in this group of patients.
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