The Coronavirus Articles - COVID19

The Coronavirus Articles - COVID19

News Articles - 2019-2020

These are the drugs being tested in fight against coronavirus

November 17, 2019 - First case in Wuhan in 11/17/2019

January 2020, Chinese medical researchers reported that remdesivir and two other drugs, hydroxychloroquine and favipiravir, seemed to have "fairly good inhibitory effects" on SARS-CoV-2 (after exploratory research that examined 30 drug candidates), after which requests to begin clinical testing were submitted.

February 6, 2020, a clinical trial of remdesivir began in China

February 11, 2020, the disease was officially named COVID-19. The virus that causes it was named SARS-CoV-2. This virus resembles other serious human coronavirus types MERS and SARS in that all belong to the "beta" subgrouping of virus. The CDC notes that MERS and SARS both began as infections in bats before mutating to infect humans.

Feb. 24, Moderna had a batch of vaccine ready to ship to the infectious diseases institute, for use in the trial.

February 27 - Nature Biotechnology: Coronavirus puts drug repurposing on the fast track Existing antivirals and knowledge gained from the SARS and MERS outbreaks gain traction as the fastest route to fight the current coronavirus epidemic.

TABLE 1 | SELECTED REPURPOSED DRUGS IN CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT TO TREAT COVID-19

March 4, the Food and Drug Administration gave permission for the Modera mRNA vaccine trial to begin in Seattle, WA

March 4, 2020, COVID-19 candidate vaccines - World Health Organization – 35 candidate vaccines

https://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/key-action/novel-coronavirus-landscape-ncov.pdf?ua=1

March 5, 2020 - Takeda already makes a medicine called intravenous immunoglobin, or IVIG, for treating patients who have immune disorders. It consists of antibodies of all types purified from the blood plasma of healthy people. Giving antibodies in this purified form is easier, because it requires a much lower volume of treatment; it’s safer, because there is no chance of transmitting other viruses; and it’s more efficient.

With its new treatment, TAK-888, Takeda hopes to create an IVIG from the blood of people who have been infected with the coronavirus and who have recovered. That could create a treatment or prophylactic relatively quickly. It might not need to go through phase I studies to demonstrate basic safety, or larger phase III studies to demonstrate efficacy. That means the treatment could be available sooner.

Convalescent plasma, another experimental treatment for Covid-19, which is taken from people who were infected with Covid-19 but recovered. Plasma is the liquid part of blood, including proteins used for clotting, and when harvested from convalescents, it contains antibodies to the virus. So transfusing plasma from someone who recovered to someone who is sick could help them get better, or prevent them from getting sick in the first place.

March 6, 2020 - the president said anyone who wanted to be tested could get tested.

March 18, 2020 - Boulware had already recruited 61 study subjects, according to his research website. hydroxychloroquine

March 19, 2020 - President Trump announced Thursday that he’s fast-tracking the testing and possible use of existing drugs in the fight against the coronavirus.

“Nothing will stand in our way as we pursue any avenue to find what best works against this horrible virus,” Trump told reporters, as cases across the country soared past 11,00 with more than 150 deaths.

Trump specifically highlighted an anti-malaria drug called chloroquine and remdesivir — an antiviral developed to treat Ebola — as promising prospects.

“Clinical trials are already underway for many new therapies and we’re working on scaling these to allow many more Americans to access different drugs that are showing really good promise,” Trump said.

Here is a look at these and other drugs being looked at as possible panaceas:

Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine (sold under the brand name Plaquenil and others):

Referring to chloroquine and a related drug, hydroxychloroquine, Trump said: “We’re going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately, and that’s where the FDA has been so great.”

March 20, 2020 - Novartis will donate enough doses of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat several million patients in the fight against the coronavirus

March 24, 2020 - FDA Grants Experimental Coronavirus Drug Benefits For Rare Disease Treatments - remdesivir

March 25, 2020 - The biotech Moderna delivers messenger RNA (blue) into cells to be translated into proteins by ribosomes.

By late March 2020, three potential antiviral therapies – favipiravir, remdesivir, and ritonavir – were in the final stage of human testing

March 27,2020 - Cares Act: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was enacted on March 27, 2020 to provide relief for Americans facing economic hardship due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, including emergency financial assistance for affected individuals, families, and businesses. In addition, the Treasury Department moved the deadline to file and pay 2019 federal income taxes from April 15 to July 15, 2020

March 27, 2020 - GM to build 30,000 ventilators for national stockpile through $489.4 million contract under Defense Production Act

March 30: HHS announced $456 million in funds for Johnson & Johnson's (Janssen) candidate vaccine. Phase 1 clinical trials began in Belgium on July 24th and in the U.S on July 27th. Janssen's large-scale Phase 3 clinical trial began on September 22, 2020, making them the fourth OWS candidate to enter Phase 3 clinical trials in the United States. Up to 60,000 volunteers will be enrolled in the trial at up to nearly 215 clinical research sites in the United States and internationally.

April 3 - Influenza antiviral Avigan (favipiravir) to enter Phase III trials in COVID-19 patients

April 6 - Trump said 3M agreed to provide 55.5 million masks a month for the U.S. for three months. Most of them will be the highly coveted N95 respirators that filter out 95% of all particulates.

April 6 - Inovio Pharmaceuticals begins human trials for COVID-19 DNA vaccine

April 8 - Lockdown on Wuhan to be lifted April 8

April 10 - Gilead Has Treated More Than 1,700 COVID-19 Patients With Remdesivir

The drug remdesivir is being studied in people with COVID-19. It works by stopping the coronavirus from making copies of itself. The FDA is now allowing remdesivir to be used in adults and children hospitalized with COVID-19 disease, as it may shorten the recovery time in some people. Side effects of remdesivir can include abnormal liver tests and reactions when the drug is given, such as low blood pressure, sweating and chills. Studies are still going on to learn more about how safe and effective remdesivir is in treating COVID-19.

Two-Thirds of Severe Covid-19 Cases Improved on Gilead Drug

April 11 - STIMULUS CHECKS FOR UP TO $4,700 BEGIN ARRIVING IN BANK ACCOUNTS

April 11 - COVID-19: Six drug candidates identified inhibit COVID 19

Structure of Mpro from COVID-19 virus and discovery of its inhibitors

April 12 - 20/20 BioResponse is one of dozens of U.S. companies selling the tests to hospitals, clinics and doctor’s offices. The Rockville, Maryland-based company imports the tests from a Chinese manufacturer but CEO Jonathan Cohen says his company independently confirmed its performance in 60 U.S. patients. He estimates the company has shipped 10,000 tests and has had to limit orders due to demand.

April 13 - First person in world to get coronavirus vaccine trial in New York

April 15 - Trump says coronavirus pandemic has peaked, some states to reopen before May 1

April 16: HHS made

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up to $483 million in support available for Moderna's candidate vaccine, which began Phase 1 trials on March 16 and received a fast-track designation from FDA. This agreement was expanded

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on July 26 to include an additional $472 million to support late-stage clinical development, including the expanded Phase 3 study of the company's mRNA vaccine, which began on July 27th.

April 17 - Google listing COVID19 testing sites

April 18 - The stock market is rising on hope for a pharma solution to coronavirus

May 5 - Stimulus check arrived

May 9 - covid 19 dataset

May 13, 2020 - Here are the top coronavirus drugs in development

May 20 - All 50 U.S. states started reopening their economies in varying stages.

May 21 - Accelerates astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine to develop 300 million doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine

May 21: HHS announced up to $1.2 billion in support for AstraZeneca's candidate vaccine, developed in conjunction with the University of Oxford. The agreement is to make available at least 300 million doses of the vaccine for the United States, with the first doses delivered as early as October 2020, if the product successfully receives FDA EUA or licensure. AstraZeneca's large-scale Phase 3 clinical trial began on August 31, 2020.

May 27 - US States reopen coronavirus (April 15), Some Countries Have Brought New Cases Down To Nearly Zero. How Did They Do It?

June 8, 2020 - Coronavirus Success Stories

June 12 - European Commission cleared to negotiate advance purchase agreements for COVID-19 vaccines. As of June 9, the incidence of COVID-19 infections in Europe is down by 80% compared to the peak on April 9.

June 15 - US coronavirus map: The number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 each day has plateaued in recent weeks

June 16 - Tested at a Coronavirus testing center - ok

June 17 - CNBG reports 100% seroconversion rate for COVID-19 vaccine candidate

June 19 - Nearly 160 vaccines are being developed worldwide. Only 13 of them have entered clinical trials, according to the World Health Organisation.

251 Coronavirus Treatments and 160 Coronavirus vaccine development

June 26 - Experts Confident Biden’s COVID-19 Response Could Speed Recovery

June 26 - A Coronavirus Treatment could be closer

June 26 - WHO, global partners launch $18B COVID-19 vaccine initiative

June 29, 2020 - Trump Administration Secures New Supplies of Remdesivir for the United States

HHS has secured more than 500,000 treatment courses of the drug for American hospitals through September.

July - Vaccines Could Start Rolling Out This Fall - Moderna is proceeding to a Phase 3 trial, the latest-stage clinical development, in July. Johnson & Johnson is going to start its Phase 1 clinical trials in July. There is the Oxford-AstraZeneca partnership that is already in Phase 2/3. By the time they are manufactured in real amounts, hopefully we’ll know through these clinical trials, which are highly efficient and very definitive in terms of giving us a signal of safety and efficacy, whether this vaccine has been effective to roll out

July 1, 2020 - Foundational research and NIH funding enabling Emergency Use Authorization of remdesivir for COVID-19

This work demonstrates the scale of foundational research on the biological target and parent chemical structure of remdesivir that supported its discovery and development for COVID19. This work identifies $6.5 billion in NIH funding for research leading to remdesivir, underscoring the role of public sector investments in basic research and research infrastructure that underlie new drugs and the response to emergent disease.

HHS has secured more than 500,000 treatment courses of the antiviral drug for US hospitals through September, according to the release. Remdesivir is the only drug that has an emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration to treat coronavirus, and it is patented by Gilead Sciences.

Gilead had donated a supply of 1.5 million doses of remdesivir to countries across the world, which it says is enough for around 140,000 treatment courses. Almost a million doses were reserved for the US, according to the HHS, but the supply is now running out.

The company has said it plans to have more than 500,000 treatment courses available by October, and more than 2 million by December, but it is unclear how these will be distributed internationally.

July 7: HHS announced $450 million in funds to support the large-scale manufacturing of Regeneron's COVID-19 investigational anti-viral antibody treatment, REGN-COV2. This agreement is the first of a number of OWS awards to support potential therapeutics all the way through to manufacturing. As part of the manufacturing demonstration project, doses of the medicine will be packaged and ready to ship immediately if clinical trials are successful and FDA grants EUA or licensure.

July 7: HHS announced $1.6 billion in funds to support the large-scale manufacturing of Novavax's vaccine candidate. By funding Novavax's manufacturing effort, the federal government will own the 100 million doses expected to result from the demonstration project.

July 17, 2020 - Dexamethasone shows promise as a Covid-19 treatment

The research team reported that a 6-milligram daily dose of dexamethasone reduced deaths by one-third in Covid-19 patients on ventilators and reduced deaths by one-fifth for patients receiving just oxygen support.

July 21, 2020 - Experimental coronavirus vaccine is safe and produces immune response

July 22: HHS announced up to $1.95 billion in funds to Pfizer for the large-scale manufacturing and nationwide distribution of 100 million doses of their vaccine candidate. The federal government will own the 100 million doses of vaccine initially produced as a result of this agreement, and Pfizer will deliver the doses in the United States if the product successfully receives FDA EUA or licensure, as outlined in FDA guidance, after completing demonstration of safety and efficacy in a large Phase 3 clinical trial, which began July 27th.

July 28 - COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Now in Final Phase of Testing

July 31: HHS announced approximately $2 billion in funds to support the advanced development, including clinical trials and large scale manufacturing, of Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) investigational adjuvanted vaccine. By funding the manufacturing effort, the federal government will own the approximately 100 million doses expected to result from the demonstration project. The adjuvanted vaccine doses could be used in clinical trials or, if the FDA authorizes use, as outlined in agency guidance, the doses would be distributed as part of a COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

August 5: HHS announced approximately $1 billion in funds to support the large-scale manufacturing and delivery of Johnson & Johnson's (Janssen) investigational vaccine candidate. Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. Government will own the resulting 100 million doses of vaccine, and will have the option to acquire more. The company's investigational vaccine relies on Janssen's recombinant adenovirus technology, AdVac, a technology used to develop and manufacture Janssen's Ebola vaccine with BARDA support; that vaccine received European Commission approval and was used in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda during the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak that began in the DRC.

August 7, 2020 - The Top 5 COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates Explained

August 11: HHS announced up to $1.5 billion in funds to support the large-scale manufacturing and delivery of Moderna's investigational vaccine candidate. Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. Government will own the resulting 100 million doses of vaccine, and will have the option to acquire more. The vaccine, called mRNA-1273, has been co-developed by Moderna and scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. NIAID has continued to support the vaccine's development including nonclinical studies and clinical trials. Additionally, BARDA has supported phase 2/3 clinical trials, vaccine manufacturing scale up and other development activities for this vaccine. The Phase 3 clinical trial, which began July 27, is the first government-funded Phase 3 clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine in the United States.

August 20, 2020 - Regeneron Boosts Production Capacity for COVID-19 Antibody Cocktail - quadruple production

August 23: As part of the agency's efforts to combat COVID-19, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for investigational convalescent plasma. Based on available scientific evidence, the FDA determined convalescent plasma may be effective in lessening the severity or shortening the length of COVID-19 illness in hospitalized patients, and that the known and potential benefits of the product outweigh the known and potential risks. The EUA authorizes the distribution of convalescent plasma in the U.S. as well as its administration by health care providers, as appropriate, to treat suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19.

September 29, 2020 - REGENERON'S REGN-COV2 ANTIBODY COCKTAIL REDUCED VIRAL LEVELS AND IMPROVED SYMPTOMS IN NON-HOSPITALIZED COVID-19 PATIENTS

Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system’s B cells that attach to a pathogen like a virus or to an infected cell. By attaching, they can either inhibit the target from doing damage or flag the target for destruction by other immune cells.

September 30, 2020 - Vaccines Are On Their Way: Now We Need To Decide Who Gets Them

October 1, 2020 - Veklury (remdesivir) Now Available Directly from Distributor following Trump Administration’s Successful Allocations to States and U.S. Territories

October 5, 2020 - Here are the most promising coronavirus vaccine candidates out there

October 6, 2020 - Common-questions-about-the-new-coronavirus-outbreak

October 6, 2020 - A new CDC report shows how wearing masks and closing bars dramatically cut the rate of coronavirus infections in Arizona 75%

October 7, 2020 - Great Barrington Declaration: Coronavirus: Health experts join global anti-lockdown movement - Lockdown on Wuhan to be lifted April 8

October 8, 2020 - Regeneron asks FDA for emergency authorization of its Covid-19 antibody therapy

Under our agreement with the U.S. government for the initial doses of REGN-COV2, if an EUA is granted the government has committed to making these doses available to the American people at no cost and would be responsible for their distribution," the statement said. "At this time, there are doses available for approximately 50,000 patients, and we expect to have doses available for 300,000 patients in total within the next few months.

October 9, 2020 - Favipiravir at high doses has potent antiviral activity in SARS-CoV-2−infected hamsters

October 9: HHS announced an agreement with AstraZeneca for late-stage development and large-scale manufacturing of the company’s COVID-19 investigational product AZD7442, a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies, that may help treat or prevent COVID-19. The goal of AstraZeneca’s partnership with the U.S. Government is to develop a monoclonal antibody cocktail that can help prevent infection. An effective monoclonal antibody that can prevent COVID-19, particularly one that is long-lasting and delivered by intramuscular injection, may be of particular use in certain groups. This includes people who have compromised immune function, those who are over 80 years old, and people undergoing medical treatments that preclude them from receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

October 9, 2020 - Novavax: In The COVID-19 Vaccination Fast Lane

October 11, 2020 - Daily Wyoming coronavirus update: 120 new cases, 75 new recoveries

October 11, 2020 - Inhaled Vaccines Aim to Fight Coronavirus at Its Point of Attack

October 12, 2020 - Study finds COVID-19 coronavirus can survive 28 days on some surfaces

October 12, 2020 - Pandemic can be overcome quickly with right tools - WHO

October 12, 2020 - End Coronavirus: COVID-19: HOW TO WIN CRUSH THE SPREAD WITH 9 MEASURES

October 13, 2020 - NY Times reporter surprised America's coronavirus recovery apparently happening faster than expected

October 13, 2020 - Alfacyte is more effective at preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in cell culture than other commercially-available Interferons such as Interferon Alpha 2 and Interferon Beta 1a.

Alfacyte is a synthetic molecule based on the human Alpha Interferons. The Alpha Interferons are a family of 12 natural proteins which everyone produces. Thus far only one subtype is used therapeutically, the Interferon Alpha 2.

October 14, 2020 - Until a coronavirus vaccine is ready, pneumonia vaccines may reduce deaths from COVID-19

October 14, 2020 - Coronavirus Vaccine - 8 Things to Know

October 16, 2020 - US Hoping For Two Covid-19 Vaccines By End Of November

Pfizer and Moderna, both funded by the US government, launched Phase 3 of their clinical trials at the end of July, and both were producing their doses at the same time.

They aim to deliver tens of millions of doses in the US by the end of the year.

Both are "mRNA vaccines," an experimental new platform that has never before been fully approved.

They both inject people with the genetic material necessary to grow the "spike protein" of SARS-CoV-2 inside their own cells, thus eliciting an immune response the body will remember when it encounters the real virus.

This effectively turns a person's own body into a vaccine factory, avoiding the costly and difficult processes that more traditional vaccine production requires.

California has prepared an unprecedented vaccination campaign against the COVID-19 virus, to protect 40 million residents from the deadly disease. Virginia and Colorado turned in their plans earlier this week.

The frontrunner vaccine, made by Pfizer, may demand a lot of special refrigerators that are only available at academic research centers. This vaccine can’t be stored in the refrigeration systems found at the typical doctor’s office. Instead, it requires special ultra-low-temperature freezers that can store medicine at minus-328 degrees Fahrenheit. It also requires a booster shot, further complicating its rollout.

October 17, 2020 - CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Program

October 18, 2020 - Virginia, Maryland, DC, other states to submit Coronavirus vaccine blueprints

October 18, 2020 - MONTGOMERY COUNTY WORKING WITH STATE ON COVID-19 VACCINE DISTRIBUTION PLAN

October 18, 2020 - Virginia begins planning for eventual COVID-19 vaccine

October 18, 2020 - RI and Massachusetts release COVID-19 vaccination plans

October 18, 2020 - Colorado Announces Its COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan

October 18, 2020 - NC, SC ON HOW THEY WILL DISTRIBUTE COVID-19 VACCINE

October 18, 2020 - Kentucky will distribute COVID-19 vaccine

October 18, 2020 - MISSOURI HAS SUBMITTED COVID-19 VACCINE PLAN

October 18, 2020 - CT Coronavirus Vaccine Plan

October 18, 2020 - New York COVID-19 vaccination plan

October 18, 2020 - Texas COVID-19 VACCINE Plan

October 18, 2020 - Massachusetts releases COVID-19 vaccination plan

October 18, 2020 - Maine submits plan distributing COVID-19 vaccination plan

October 18, 2020 - W.Va completes COVID-19 vaccine action plan

October 18, 2020 - RI prepares for COVID-19 vaccination plan

October 18, 2020 - Hawaii’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan

October 18, 2020 - Minnesota plans for COVID-19 vaccine distribution

October 18, 2020 - Utah plans Coronavirus Vaccination Plan

October 18, 2020 - Ohio already preparing COVID-19 vaccine plans

October 19, 2020 - Montana DPHHS announces COVID-19 vaccination plan

October 19, 2020 - States Rush to Get COVID-19 Vaccination Plans to CDC

October 19, 2020 - SARS-CoV-2 vaccine Leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates have progressed through laboratory tests at record speed.

October 19, 2020 - For Trump, Covid-19 therapeutics are the new vaccines

October 19, 2020 - Johns Hopkins Scientists Discover Possible Key to Controlling COVID-19 Immune Response

October 19, 2020 - UNICEF To Stockpile Over Half A Billion Syringes For Future COVID-19 Vaccine

October 21, 2020 - WASHINGTON STATE ANNOUNCES 'INTERIM' CORONAVIRUS VACCINE DISTRIBUTION PLAN

October 21, 2020 - Utah unveils COVID-19 vaccination plan

October 21, 2020 - Tennessee Dept. of Health releases COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan

October 21, 2020 - New studies suggest there has been a 'sharp' drop in COVID-19 death rates

October 21, 2020 - Study helps explain declines in death rates from COVID-19

October 21, 2020 - Rheumatoid arthritis drug tocilizumab advances as a COVID treatment, as other regimens fall back, studies show

October 21, 2020 - Is reaching zero COVID-19 possible?

Vaccination has, in theory, the potential of getting us to the elusive zero COVID-19. Vaccines have reduced the incidence of diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella and haemophilus influenzae type B to close to zero in many developed countries. So while an effective vaccine offers the best chance of reaching zero COVID-19

October 22, 2020 - FDA Approves First Treatment for COVID-19

October 22, 2020 - Biden's Health Agenda

The Biden Plan calls for:

Restoring trust, credibility, and common purpose.

Mounting an effective national emergency response that saves lives, protects frontline workers, and minimizes the spread of COVID-19.

Eliminating cost barriers for prevention of and care for COVID-19.

Pursuing decisive economic measures to help hard-hit workers, families, and small businesses and to stabilize the American economy.

Rallying the world to confront this crisis while laying the foundation for the future.

October 22, 2020 - Biden's Health Agenda - Biden's COVID plan includes taking major responsibility for the pandemic back from the states. His federal response would include more money for, and coordination of, testing and contact tracing; ensuring adequate protective equipment for health professionals; and assuring the public that new treatments and vaccines will be based on science, not politics.

Assuming Biden gets beyond the pandemic and recession, he could move onto some of his bigger health promises, including expanding eligibility for Medicare, creating a "public option" health plan and boosting premium subsidies for the ACA.

Many of Biden's proposals, including a public option and larger subsidies to help low- and middle-income people pay for insurance, are the very things that an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress could not pass as part of the original Affordable Care Act in 2010. Conservative Democratic senators objected to the plan.

Who is furthest along?

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc with partner BioNTech SE, U.S. biotech Moderna Inc and Britain-based AstraZeneca Plc in conjunction with University of Oxford researchers could provide early analyses of data from their various large trials over the next two months. Johnson & Johnson is not far behind.

How will we know if the vaccine works?

The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the World Health Organization have all set similar minimum standards for effectiveness. Vaccines must demonstrate at least 50% efficacy - meaning at least twice as many infections among volunteers who got a placebo than in the vaccine group. Independent panels oversee the trials to monitor for safety and effectiveness since the data is hidden from companies and researchers. These data safety monitoring boards take a peek at the interim results at pre-determined milestones, such as after a certain number of people have become infected. It the vaccine is looking significantly better than the placebo, the companies can apply for emergency use, and the study may be halted or continue to its intended conclusion. A trial also can be halted if the panel determines the vaccine to be unsafe.

October 24, 2020 - Scientists develop new way to test for COVID-19 antibodies

October 24, 2020 - The FDA approved remdesivir to treat Covid-19. Scientists are questioning the evidence.

October 24, 2020 - Scientists make digital breakthrough in chemistry that could revolutionize the drug industry

October 27, 2020 - Three Western states join California in screening any FDA-approved coronavirus vaccine

October 28, 2020 - Fact check: Neither Biden nor Trump is calling for mandated COVID-19 vaccines

Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser of Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. effort to accelerate vaccine developments, told ABC News that approximately 20 million to 40 million doses of a vaccine — if authorized by the end of the year — would be distributed to a limited population. "Now, not every one in that population can be immunized in December, but the companies will continue to manufacture and produce vaccine doses — and in January, we plan to have about 60 to 80 million doses of those two vaccines," Slaoui said.

October 28, 2020 - Coronavirus Vaccine Race

October 28, 2020 - SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibody LY-CoV555 in Outpatients with Covid-19

CONCLUSIONS: In this interim analysis of a phase 2 trial, one of three doses of neutralizing antibody LY-CoV555 appeared to accelerate the natural decline in viral load over time, whereas the other doses had not by day 11.

October 29, 2020 - Covid-19 antibody therapies show promising results in separate trials

Published results from Eli Lilly - The study was primarily testing to see if the therapy eliminated the virus by day 11. The vast majority of patients had eliminated or had little trace of the virus by then. While the hospitalization data was a secondary endpoint, study co-author Dr. Peter Chen characterized the difference as "dramatic" and "meaningful."

Regeneron said the treatment significantly reduced viral load and reduced the need for a patient to go to the hospital, emergency room, urgent care or doctor's office. The analysis involved nearly 800 patients. Patients on the treatment had on average a greater-than-10-fold reduction in viral load by day 5 than those taking a placebo, which does nothing. Patients with the higher viral load at baseline got a bigger benefit from the therapy. The therapy reduced Covid-19 related medical visits by 72% in patients with one risk factor for severe disease, the company said.

October 29, 2020 - These are the top coronavirus vaccines

Phase 3 Vaccines

Vaccines using nucleic acid (DNA and RNA)

Nucleic acid vaccines, developed by

Moderna; National Institutes of Health

Pfizer; BioNTech; Fosun Pharma

Vectored vaccines, developed by

AstraZeneca; University of Oxford

CanSino Biologics; Beijing Institute of Biotechnology; Canada's National Research Council; Petrovax

Gamaleya Research Institute*

Johnson & Johnson, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Subunit vaccines, developed by

AstraZeneca; University of Oxford

CanSino Biologics; Beijing Institute of Biotechnology; Canada's National Research Council; Petrovax

Gamaleya Research Institute*

Johnson & Johnson, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Institut Pasteur; Themis; University of Pittsburgh CVR; Merck Sharp & Dohme

Live attenuated or weakened virus vaccines, developed by

Beijing Institute of Biological Products; Sinopharm

Sinopharm

Sinovac

October 29, 2020 - Next crop of COVID-19 vaccine developers take more traditional route

October 30, 2020 - Moderna will have 20M coronavirus vaccines ready by year's end

Biotech firm Moderna expects to have about 20 million doses of its experimental coronavirus vaccine dubbed mRNA-1273 ready to ship in the U.S. by the end of the year.

October 30, 2020 - COVID-19 Antibodies May Last Longer Than Researchers Thought

Previous research found that levels of antibodies in recovered patients start to wane about three months from when those patients first experience symptoms. But in a study published in Science this week, researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai report that antibodies may last as long as five months.

October 30, 2020 - T-cells from recovered COVID-19 patients show promise to protect vulnerable patients from infection Immunotherapy experts apply proven model to grow SARS-CoV-2-fighting T-cells from convalescent donors

October 30, 2020 - Biden/Harris plan seven points include:

    • Testing as many people per day as are currently tested per week by doubling the number of testing sites in the U.S.; investing in rapid and at-home tests; creating a Pandemic Testing Board to oversee test production; and building out a 100,000-person national contact tracing workforce that would collaborate with community groups.
    • Ramping up production of personal protective equipment like masks and face shields.
    • Working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to produce clear guidance for businesses, schools and other facilities trying to reopen, accompanied by government funding for businesses, schools and state and local governments.
    • Creating (and investing $25 billion in) a vaccine production-and-distribution plan that ensures free and equitable access, while allowing scientists to clearly communicate progress with the public.
    • Protecting vulnerable populations like the elderly and people of color, including through a COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force, and publishing a real-time data dashboard that provides local information about the outbreak.
    • Restoring the White House office responsible for monitoring global health risks, which Trump disbanded in its original form in 2018, and rejoining the World Health Organization, among other efforts to strengthen the U.S.’ global health response.
    • Encouraging universal masking by urging governors and local lawmakers to enforce mandates.

Both Democrats and Republicans say they want to bring down drug prices

October 30, 2020 - U.S. signs up pharmacy chains as COVID-19 vaccination centres: WSJ

November 1, 2020 - Feds issue coverage plan for COVID-19 vaccine and treatments

November 9, 2020 - Pfizer says its coronavirus vaccine helps prevent COVID-19, marking a milestone in the fight against the pandemic

November 9, 2020 - The FDA issued an emergency use authorization to drug-maker Lilly for bamlanivimab, a monoclonal antibody that mimics the immune system’s response to infection with the virus that causes COVID-19

November 9, 2020 - Dr. Fauci says Pfizer's reported 90% vaccine efficacy rate is 'extraordinary'

November 11, 2020 - Mysterious New “Hidden” Gene Discovered in COVID-19 Virus

The research team identified ORF3d, a new overlapping gene in SARS-CoV-2 that has the potential to encode a protein that is longer than expected by chance alone.

November 14, 2020 - Four reasons for encouragement based on Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine results

November 17, 2020 - Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine is 94.5% Effective. Here’s What That Really Means

Moderna announced today that its experimental mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 achieved 94.5% protective efficacy in an interim analysis of a 30,000-person trial.

November 17, 2020 - Pfizer to start pilot delivery program for its COVID-19 vaccine in four U.S. states

November 17, 2020 - Immunity to the Coronavirus May Last Years, New Data Hint

November 17, 2020 - Covid vaccine front-runners: How much they cost, who’s bought them and how they’re stored

November 21, 2020 - Moderna To Charge $25-$37 Per Dose For Its COVID-19 Vaccine, Says CEO

November 22, 2020 - When could the first COVID-19 vaccines be given in the US? Dec. 13 is the first possible day the vaccine could be administered

November 23, 2020 - Astra-Oxford Vaccine Found Effective in Preventing Covid

November 23, 2020 - Here’s What You Need To Know About AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 Vaccine

November 24, 2020 - The COVID Logistics: How a Vaccine Will Get to You

November 24, 2020 - What you need to know about the AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer vaccines

November 24, 2020 - Pfizer 6.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses expected to be shipped to states by mid-December

November 24, 2020 - Moderna: 'We're Ready' To Ship 20 Million Coronavirus Vaccine Doses By The End Of 2020

November 25, 2020 - FDA clears a ‘new generation’ of Covid antibody test designed to tell how well someone is protected against the virus

November 25, 2020 - Initial Batch Of COVID-19 Vaccines Will Go To States Based On Population, Not Risk

November 25, 2020 - Maker of ultra-cold freezers sees surge in demand to store Covid vaccines

November 28, 2020 - Airlines preparing to transport COVID-19 vaccine when ready for distribution

November 30, 2020 - Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine Shows 100% Efficacy Against Severe Cases

December 2, 2020 - How you'll know the COVID-19 vaccines are safe

December 3, 2020 - US hopes to vaccinate 20M this year, 100M by end of February

December 3, 2020 - Moderna vaccine confers at least 3 months immunity: study

December 3, 2020 - Durability of Responses after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 Vaccination

December 4, 2020 - Virginia slated to receive 480,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses by end of December

December 5, 2020 - Is ‘natural immunity’ from Covid-19 better than a vaccine?

December 5, 2020 - You Should Be Able to Get a COVID Vaccine by April

December 5, 2020 - COVID Vaccine Transmission

We need to reach 75 percent immunity to end the pandemic. In order for the U.S. to fully stamp out COVID-19 with herd immunity, we need 75 percent of the population to become vaccinated or produce natural antibodies to the virus.

December 5, 2020 - Here’s How the Pandemic Finally Ends A vaccine by early 2021, a steady decline in cases by next fall and back to normal in a few years—11 top experts look into the future.

December 6, 2020 - States defer to health providers on who gets first vaccines

December 9, 2020 - Here’s Why You’ll Be Given a Vaccination Card After You Get the COVID-19 Vaccine

December 10, 2020 - FDA panel endorses Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for emergency use

December 10, 2020 - US panel endorses widespread use of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

December 10, 2020 - Walmart Outlines Vaccine Distribution Plans

December 11, 2020 - First COVID-19 vaccine authorized for use in the United States

December 13, 2020 - First batch of coronavirus vaccine ships out from Pfizer plant for all 50 states

December 15, 2020 - FDA Analysis Of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Finds It Effective And Safe

December 17, 2020 - Walgreens, CVS predict COVID-19 vaccines will be available to the general public by appointment at pharmacies by spring

December 18, 2020 - The One Thing About the COVID Vaccine That's Surprising Even Doctors

December 20, 2020 - First shipments of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine begin to roll out

December 21, 2020 - Congress Passes $900 Billion Coronavirus Relief Bill, Ending Months-Long Stalemate

December 23, 2020 - Pfizer, U.S. strike 100 million COVID-19 vaccine deal with 70 million due by June

January 10, 2021 - Two new ‘life-saving’ COVID-19 treatments discovered by UK doctors

January 12, 2021 - D.C., Northern Virginia move to second phase of coronavirus vaccinations, targeting older residents

January 12, 2021 - COVID-19 Vaccines

US VACCINATIONS BY THE NUMBERS

People that Received the 1st Dose

8,987,322

Total Doses Distributed

25,480,725

January 18, 2021 - Fairfax county vaccine registration

January 19, 2021 - COVID-19 Vaccines

US VACCINATIONS BY THE NUMBERS

People that Received the 1st Dose

12,279,180

Total Doses Distributed

31,161,075

January 22, 2021 - Overall US COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution and Administration

U.S. COVID-19 Vaccine Administration by Vaccine Type

Pfizer BioNTech - 9,817,027

Moderna - 7,724,683

January 22, 2021 - Walmart will expand Covid-19 vaccinations to more states

January 24, 2021 - 100 million shot goal for COVID-19 vaccine shots in 100 days "is a floor, not a ceiling

January 24, 2021 - Colchicine reduces the risk of COVID-19-related complications

January 24, 2021 - COVID-19 Vaccine Data

Total Doses Distributed

41,411,550

Total Doses Administered

21,848,655

COVID-19 Vaccine Data

Total Doses Distributed

169,223,125

Total Doses Administered

130,473,853

March 31, 2021 - COVID-19 Vaccine - Pfizer

April 21, 2021 - COVID-19 Vaccine - Pfizer

April 21, 2021 - Biden Says Goal Of 200 Million COVID-19 Vaccinations In 100 Days Has Been Met

Coronavirus

Mild vs Serious

Seven coronaviruses are known to cause human disease, four of which are mild: viruses 229E, OC43, NL63 and HKU1. Three of the coronaviruses can have more serious outcomes in people: SARS, MERs, COVID-19

People who have fully recovered from COVID-19 might want to consider donating their plasma at a designated blood collection center. People who have had COVID-19 have antibodies in their blood, and studies are looking to see if these antibodies might help fight the COVID-19 infection in people who now have the disease. The FDA has more information about how this type of treatment (known as convalescent plasma) might work, who can donate plasma, and where they can go to do this.

COVID-19 Antibody Test (ELISA) for Those Already Infected With Coronavirus

Human Coronavirus Types

Scientists have divided coronaviruses into four sub-groupings, called alpha, beta, gamma, and delta. Seven of these viruses can infect people:

    • 229E (alpha)
    • NL63 (alpha)
    • OC43 (beta)
    • HKU1 (beta
    • MERS-CoV, a beta virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)

MERS-CoV is a recently discovered betacoronavirus of lineage C that was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The exact origin of this novel coronavirus is still unknown. MERS-CoV is closely related to two coronaviruses of the same lineage found in bats, which may indeed be its wild reservoir. However, it is also found in dromedary (single-humped) camels, and domesticated herds have been a principal link to zoonotic infection in humans.

Remdesivir prevents MERS coronavirus disease in monkeys

No vaccine currently exists for MERS

Management is currently supportive. At least one group has recommended consideration of interferon alfa 2b plus ribavirin in the management of MERS-CoV cases because of the combination’s efficacy seen in rhesus macaques with MERS.

Results support testing antiviral against 2019 novel coronavirus.

    • SARS-CoV, a beta virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

Treatment for SARS · assisting with breathing using a ventilator to deliver oxygen · antibiotics to treat bacteria that cause pneumonia · antiviral medicines · Ribavirin and corticosteroids were used · The best treatment strategy for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is still unknown.

    • SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19

Treatment for COVID19 remdesivir and two other drugs, hydroxychloroquine and favipiravir, seemed to have "fairly good inhibitory effects" on SARS-CoV-2

Explore detailed information on each development:

June 25 - 254 Treatments and 172 Vaccines

Adjective

(antiseptic) Opposite of capable of being transmitted to others

Adjective

(noncommunicable) Opposite of capable of being transmitted to others

Noun

Opposite of any contagious disease that spreads rapidly and kills many people

Home Cleaning

Here’s a list of disinfectants you can use against coronavirus

https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/many-common-household-cleaning-products-can-kill-coronavirus-if-you-ncna1160271

  • Clorox Multi Surface Cleaner + Bleach
  • Clorox Disinfecting Wipes
  • Clorox Commercial Solutions® Clorox® Disinfecting Spray
  • Lysol brand Heavy-Duty Cleaner Disinfectant Concentrate
  • Lysol Disinfectant Max Cover Mist
  • Lysol brand Clean & Fresh Multi-Surface Cleaner
  • Purell Professional Surface Disinfectant Wipes
  • Sani-Prime Germicidal Spray

EPA

https://www.epa.gov/coronavirus

List of disinfectants you can use against coronavirus

Recommendations for U.S. Households with Suspected or Confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Products with Emerging Viral Pathogens AND Human Coronavirus claims for use against SARS-CoV-2

Air Cleaning - Green Technology

Clean air exp: Clean Air EXP, claims it kills 99.9 per cent of COVID within 10 minutes

Ventilation and air filtration play a key role in preventing the spread of COVID-19 indoors

Prevention - Cleaning, Face Masks

You can protect yourself and help prevent spreading the virus to others if you:

Do

Wash your hands regularly for 20 seconds, with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub

Cover your nose and mouth with a disposable tissue or flexed elbow when you cough or sneeze

Avoid close contact (1 meter or 3 feet) with people who are unwell

Stay home and self-isolate from others in the household if you feel unwell

Don't

Touch your eyes, nose, or mouth if your hands are not clean

Soap and water will work

The soap removes the viral particles that have attached themselves to surfaces — whether it’s your hands, face or countertops — and suspends them in the water, so they can be washed away.

Richard Sachleben, an organic chemist and a member of the American Chemical Society, said most of the cleaning products we call soap are actually detergents that not only remove the germs from surfaces, but also kill them.

“The virus has an outside coating, and the stuff inside — DNA or RNA — is what actually causes the disease. It's kind of like the casing on a bomb or torpedo,” Sachleben explained. “For a virus, that coating is a protein, and the soap or detergent break up that coating, so the virus spills its guts and falls apart.”

Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. Avoid large gatherings. Don’t panic, and prepare as best you can

Face Masks

Amazon.com: masks for coronavirus protection

Wearing masks could save more than 100,000 US lives through February, new study suggests

Home Preparedness Kit

Redcross.org Store:first-aid-supplies

https://www.ready.gov/kit

Amazon.com: masks for coronavirus protection

How to prepare for coronavirus: The shopping list for your own home quarantine kit

Mouthwash

VERIFY: STUDY SHOWS MOUTHWASH MAY INACTIVATE CORONAVIRUS, BUT NOT A CURE

USDA - COVID-19 and nutrition for health

    • To help cope with stress that may be related to the pandemic, take care of your body including good nutrition, as part of self-care.
    • Dietary supplements aren’t meant to treat or prevent COVID-19. Certain vitamins and minerals (e.g., Vitamins C and D, zinc) may have effects on how our immune system works to fight off infections, as well as inflammation and swelling.
        • The best way to obtain these nutrients is through foods: Vitamin Cexternal icon in fruits and vegetables, Vitamin D in low-fat milk, fortified milk alternatives, and seafood, and zinc in lean meat, seafood, legumes, nuts, and seeds.
        • In some cases, dietary supplements may have unwanted effects, especially if taken in too large amounts, before surgery, or with other dietary supplements or medicines, or if you have certain health conditions.
        • If you are considering taking vitamins or dietary supplements, talk with your pharmacist, registered dietitian, or other healthcare provider before taking, especially when combining or substituting them with other foods or medicine.
    • With changes in food availability in some communities, you may be consuming more canned or packaged food. Tips on purchasing canned and packaged goods using the Nutrition Facts label are available. In addition, helpful food planning is available at MyPlate.
    • Getting the right amount of nutritious food like plenty of fruits and vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains is important for health. If you or your household need help in obtaining nutritious food, find additional resources at USDA Nutrition Assistance Program, or call the USDA National Hunger Hotline at 1-866-3-HUNGRY or 1-877-8-HAMBRE to speak with a representative who will find food resources such as meal sites, food banks, and other social services available near your location.

Over the counter medicines

Hospitalized coronavirus patients who take daily aspirin have lower death risk, study finds

COVID-19 patients who took aspirin also had a lower risk of complications, the study found. Those who took aspirin also had a 47% reduced risk of dying in the hospital compared to those who did not take the drug.

Testing

Coronavirus Testing

Real time Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (rRT-PCR) test was used to confirm new cases of coronavirus infection.

Costco offering at-home coronavirus tests for $130-$140

COVID-19, an AI-based screening software

inferVISION is electron microscope lab

  • COVID-19, an AI-based screening software
  • inferVISION, this AI-based software

inferVISION is using AI and deep learning technologies to develop multiple platforms, including an AI applications management platform, an AI data-mining research platform, and several AI clinical application platforms, as well as medical AI systems for quality control, health management, and scientific research. The software had originally been developed for detecting signs of cancer in lung CTs. Additionally, the software's models were already set up for detecting pneumonia prior to the outbreak of coronavirus and only needed some fine-tuning to be adapted.

The AI behind the software was trained using more than 2,000 CT images of some of the first confirmed coronavirus patients in China.

The software relies heavily on NVIDIA's Clara SDKs, which is NVIDIA's AI healthcare application framework for AI-powered Medical Imaging. inferVISION is able to identify typical signs or partial signs of COVID-19 in suspected patients. In order to do this, the software looks out for signs of pneumonia that can be caused by the virus.

Treatment research

Several organizations around the world are developing vaccinesor testing antiviralmedicine. Efforts include:

Organizations around the world

World Health Organization

https://www.who.int/

WHO releases COVID-19 roadmap; funding efforts, the roadmap announced (US$42.8 million) toward the development of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostic test. WHO has received applications for review and approval of 40 diagnostic tests, 20 vaccines and an (unspecified) number of therapeutics. There are more than 200 clinical trials targeting COVID-19 progressing in China. Those include 35 studies evaluating antivirals and other agents, including remdesivir (GS-5734), the protease inhibitor combination drug Kaletra (lopinavir +ritonavir), Truvada (tenofovir),Tamiflu (oseltamivir), Xofluza (baloxavir marboxil), Arbidol (umifenovir), interferon drugs, the antimalarial drug chloroquine, and Lianhua-Qingwen, a traditional Chinese medicine for treating flu.

who-releases-covid-19-roadmap-funding-efforts

March 11, 2020 - Declared global pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020

Doctors Without Borders

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/news-stories

Red Cross

Redcross.org Store:first-aid-supplies

NIH/NIAID

https://www.nih.gov/

National Library of Medicine

NIAID

https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/coronaviruses

CDC

Recommendations for U.S. Households with Suspected or Confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html

Coronavirus

https://www.coronavirus.gov/

Coronavirus Resources

Covid 19 Alert

EPA

https://www.epa.gov/coronavirus

Products with Emerging Viral Pathogens AND Human Coronavirus claims for use against SARS-CoV-2

FDA

FDA Grants Experimental Coronavirus Drug Benefits For Rare Disease Treatments

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/24/821035311/fda-grants-experimental-coronavirus-drug-benefits-for-rare-disease-treatments

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

https://phrma.org/coronavirus

Health History

COVID-19 drug development

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_drug_development

Remdesivir

"There is only one drug right now that we think may have real efficacy and that's remdesivir," WHO Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward said at a March press briefing.

One of the most promising antiviral drugs for Ebola got quick NIH approval for testing on COVID-19 patients.

The drug remdesivir is being studied in people with COVID-19. It works by stopping the coronavirus from making copies of itself. The FDA is now allowing remdesivir to be used in adults and children hospitalized with COVID-19 disease, as it may shorten the recovery time in some people. Side effects of remdesivir can include abnormal liver tests and reactions when the drug is given, such as low blood pressure, sweating and chills. Studies are still going on to learn more about how safe and effective remdesivir is in treating COVID-19.

Gilead Sciences Initiates Two Phase 3 Studies ofInvestigational Antiviral Remdesivir for the Treatment of COVID-19

-- U.S. FDA Grants Investigational New Drug Authorization to Study Remdesivir for the Treatment of COVID-19 --

https://www.amazon.com/Generic-Remdesivir-98-25mg/dp/B084M7R78T/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?keywords=remdesivir&qid=1585269164&sr=8-6

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remdesivir

Remdesivir, a broad-spectrum antiviral, is viewed by researchers and doctors as one of the most promising agents against Covid-19 to enter human trials to date. In lab studies conducted prior to the Covid-19 outbreak on numerous compounds, researchers at the University of North Carolina and Vanderbilt University found the drug had potent activity against against a wide variety of coronaviruses similar to the new coronavirus

Two-Thirds of Severe Covid-19 Cases Improved on Gilead Drug. All received remdesivir for up to 10 days on a compassionate use basis, a program that allows people to use unapproved medicines when no other treatment options are available. Over 18 days, 68% of the patients improved, with 17 of the 30 patients on mechanical ventilation being able to get off the breathing device. Almost half of the patients studied were ultimately discharged, while 13% died. Mortality was highest among those who were on a ventilator, with 18% of them dying.

Several large scale clinical trials are underway to evaluate the benefit of remdesivir for Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has infected more than 1.65 million people worldwide and killed 100,000. One that was conducted in China could report results this month. Another, sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, has enrolled patients rapidly as the virus spread throughout the U.S. It could also report results in the coming weeks. Gilead itself is sponsoring an additional two trials.

If it works well, one issue will be whether there is enough of a supply of the drug, especially if the epidemic is still raging. Gilead has been working all-out to bolster supply of the hard-to-make medicine. It said earlier this month that it hopes to to have 500,000 treatment courses by October, and more than 1 million by year-end. Production time has also been accelerated to six months from one year

Gilead Has Treated More Than 1,700 COVID-19 Patients With Remdesivir

Two-Thirds of Severe Covid-19 Cases Improved on Gilead Drug

Trials of Gilead Coronavirus Drug in China Could Start Next Week

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-02-04/trials-of-gilead-coronavirus-drug-in-china-could-start-next-week

https://www.biocentury.com/article/304441/covid-19-update-gilead-ramping-up-remdesivir-production-codagenix-partners-with-vaccine-giant

JUN 26, 2020 - Gilead on Monday said it aims to manufacture another 2 million courses of remdesivir this year, but did not comment on how it plans to distribute, or sell, those supplies for use by hospitals. The company has licensed the antiviral to several generic drugmakers, who will be allowed to sell the medication in over 100 low-income nations.

Gilead Science Releases Pricing Plan For COVID-19 Drug Remdesivir

U.S. government $390 a dose, which will cost patients on Medicare at least $2,300 for the shortest coronavirus treatment cycle.

Hospitals $520 per dose, in turn, costing patients with private insurance at least $3,100 per treatment cycle.

Special Report: As doctors see hope in new treatments

Plaquenil & Aralen (Antimalarial Drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine)

For centuries people have turned to hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to fight malaria. Now these drugs, often sold under the brand names Plaquenil and Aralen, are being sent to clinical trial for fighting COVID-19. These drugs had been used during the SARS crisis and showed promise, but were never widely used. They may be useful for both preventing infection and treating people with infections. Chloroquine has been shown to inhibit the growth of the novel coronavirus in lab settings, and has been used in China to treat critically ill patients.

However, people should not take this medication without a doctor’s supervision. In Nigeria, three people were reported to have overdosed on chloroquine after the U.S. president made positive comments about it in relation to COVID-19. Publicity of these drugs long before the president’s comments had already led to a nationwide shortage of these drugs in the U.S. Pharmacists began running out of their supply of a drug that can be lifesaving in the event of lupus flares. Many people with rheumatoid arthritis also rely on hydroxychloroquine for their flares.

The label for Plaquenil, a brand of hydroxychloroquine, is an anti malaria drug that has been around since 1955.

Novartis, Mylan and Teva to supply tens of millions of chloroquine tablets to fight COVID-19

By March 18, the day before Trump first uttered the word "hydroxychloroquine" in public, Boulware had already recruited 61 study subjects, according to his research website.

In days, Boulware accomplished what he says usually takes more than a year to do.

"For clinical trials, this has by far been the fastest of my career," he said. "I think it's broken world records."

The other seven centers conducting hydroxychloroquine studies for coronavirus are: Columbia University in New York; Intermountain Health Care, Inc. in Utah; the University of Pennsylvania; Washington University in St. Louis; Providence Health in Oregon; ProgenaBiome, a laboratory in California and Sanofi, a pharmaceutical company

In the journal "Antiviral Research," Dr. Xavier de Lamballerie and Franck Touret wrote that hydroxychloroquine is "considered to be safe and side-effects are generally mild and transitory," but that "the margin between the therapeutic and toxic dose is narrow

Warning: "the margin between the therapeutic and toxic dose is narrow. patients taking the drug have reported "life threatening and fatal" cardiac problems and "irreversible" vision problems.

Patients received hydroxychloroquine (200mg t.i.d for ten days) and azithromycin (500mg on the first day, 200mg q.d. for the next four days).

Hydroxychloroquine Cost: The cost for hydroxychloroquine oral tablet 200 mg is around $37 for a supply of 100 tablets

By late March 2020, three potential antiviral therapies – favipiravir, remdesivir, and ritonavir – were in the final stage of human testing

Avigan (Anti-Flu Drug favipiravir)

The anti-flu drug Avigan (generic name favipiravir) won early approval in China for treating symptoms of COVID-19. It is also approved in Japan for investigational use into the novel coronavirus. Favipiravir was reported to help infected patients recover more quickly and with milder chest symptoms, according to Chinese officials. Still, parent company Fujifilm Pharmaceuticals, Japan has not yet confirmed the drug’s efficacy in treating COVID-19.

March 17, 2020, Chinese officials suggested that Favipiravir seemed to be effective in treating COVID-19 in Wuhan and Shenzhen.

The Chinese authorities, for example, consider Favipiravir to be a "clearly effective" antiviral drug which has been developed by the Japanese company Toyama Chemical, which named it Avigan, and has been tested by Wuhan University in China.

In a study of 240 patients with pneumonia, although not severe cases, this drug was given to half of them while the other half were given Umifenovir (or Arbidol), an antiviral used in Russia.

Those given Favipiravir saw that symptoms of fever and cough disappeared earlier but a similar number in each group ended up needing oxygen or respirators, concluding that Favipiravir was the "preferred" of the two drugs.

As reported in the MIT Technology Review, owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), there have been few (and no conclusive) studies on the benefits of using certain compounds in the fight against coronavirus with Favipiravir and two others included

Why does Favipiravir work better?

Favipiravir is effective as it works by preventing the virus from copying its genetic material.

It was discovered while searching for drugs to treat a common flu and has strong inhibitory activity on RNA-polymerase RNA, which is dependent on most viruses with RNA genomes.

Among them, influenza viruses have been shown to be sensitive to this new antiviral drug, including strains with genetic resistance to neuraminidase inhibitors.

Favipiravir, the flu medicine which works against COVID-19

Avigan is only used when there is an outbreak of novel or re-emerging influenza virus infections in which other influenza antiviral drugs are either not effective or insufficiently effective.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.marca.com/en/lifestyle/2020/04/10/5e90e6c722601d81378b4628.html

Influenza antiviral Avigan (favipiravir) to enter Phase III trials in COVID-19 patients

https://www.europeanpharmaceuticalreview.com/news/116308/the-influenza-antiviral-avigan-favipiravir-to-enter-phase-iii-trials-in-covid-19-patients/

baricitinib

AI Uncovers a Potential Treatment for Covid-19 Patients

Software suggested an arthritis drug might quell an out-of-control immune response that damages the lungs. Now it's being tested in a clinical trial. They caught the attention of Eli Lilly, which markets the arthritis drug, known as baricitinib, under the brand name Olumiant.

Interferon Beta (Lung Disease Drug)

Another drug that showed promise fighting SARS, Interferon Beta is being tested for COVID-19. This antiviral drug is a common choice for doctors when the cause of an infection is unknown. It may inhibit replication of respiratory coronaviruses, and has shown promise fighting MERS in mice. Those mice studies showed that an injection of Interferon Beta within a day of MERS infection protected mice from death. This drug has also shown antiviral activity in combination with remdesivir.

Antibody Therapies (Blood Plasma)

Convalescent plasma, another experimental treatment for Covid-19, which is taken from people who were infected with Covid-19 but recovered. Plasma is the liquid part of blood, including proteins used for clotting, and when harvested from convalescents, it contains antibodies to the virus. So transfusing plasma from someone who recovered to someone who is sick could help them get better, or prevent them from getting sick in the first place.

The only antibody currently available for treating COVID-19 is found in the blood plasma of disease survivors. That's why the FDA and other federal agencies are investigating blood plasma therapies from recovered COVID-19 patients to treat the disease. These antibodies may be generated on a greater scale eventually, for instance by genetically engineered cows to produce the human antibody. But until that can be developed, human blood remains the only source.

COVID-19 Antibody Test (ELISA) for Those Already Infected With Coronavirus

Takeda already makes a medicine called intravenous immunoglobin, or IVIG, for treating patients who have immune disorders. It consists of antibodies of all types purified from the blood plasma of healthy people. Giving antibodies in this purified form is easier, because it requires a much lower volume of treatment; it’s safer, because there is no chance of transmitting other viruses; and it’s more efficient.

With its new treatment, TAK-888, Takeda hopes to create an IVIG from the blood of people who have been infected with the coronavirus and who have recovered. That could create a treatment or prophylactic relatively quickly. It might not need to go through phase I studies to demonstrate basic safety, or larger phase III studies to demonstrate efficacy. That means the treatment could be available sooner.

How blood plasma from recovered patients could help treat the new coronavirus

Kaletra (HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir)

The HIV drug Kaletra (generic names lopinavir and ritonavir) was studied early to great fanfare as a possible COVID-19 treatment. In theory, this medication could be helpful by reducing the viral load of those infected. It had been studied in the treatment of both SARS and MERS coronaviruses, but the studies were flawed. Unfortunately, an important study of 199 COVID-19 patients in China treated with this drug showed the pharmaceutical provided no additional benefit compared to standard care.

In 2020 lopinavir/ritonavir was found not to work in COVID-19

The biotech company Regeneron successfully developed an antibody drug to treat Ebola as well as one against MERS, a deadly coronavirus similar to Covid-19. Regeneron has an antibody drug that should enter human trials in June. Vir Biotechnology is also developing an antibody treatment for Covid-19 and says it could be ready for human trials this summer

COVID-19 drug development

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_drug_development

Coronavirus puts drug repurposing on the fast track

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41587-020-00003-1

The biotech company Regeneron successfully developed an antibody drug to treat Ebola as well as one against MERS, a deadly coronavirus similar to Covid-19. Regeneron has an antibody drug that should enter human trials in June. Vir Biotechnology is also developing an antibody treatment for Covid-19 and says it could be ready for human trials this summer

Regeneron Boosts Production Capacity for COVID-19 Antibody Cocktail - quadruple production

REGENERON'S REGN-COV2 ANTIBODY COCKTAIL REDUCED VIRAL LEVELS AND IMPROVED SYMPTOMS IN NON-HOSPITALIZED COVID-19 PATIENTS

TABLE 1 | SELECTED REPURPOSED DRUGS IN CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT TO TREAT COVID-19

DRUG OR COCKTAIL

ORIGINATOR COMPANY

STATUS AND MECHANISMS

CLINICAL TRIALS (TRIAL POSTING DATE)

ASC09/RITONAVIR, LOPINAVIR/RITONAVIR, WITH OR WITHOUT UMIFENOVIR

ASCLETIS, ABBVIE, PHARMSTANDARD

ASC09 IS AN EXPERIMENTAL HIV-1 PROTEASE INHIBITOR; RITONAVIR AND LOPINAVIR/RITONAVIR ARE APPROVED PROTEASE INHIBITORS FOR HIV/AIDS; UMIFENOVIR IS AN APPROVED ENTRY INHIBITOR AGAINST INFLUENZA

AT LEAST THREE TRIALS (E.G., CHICTR2000029603, 2/6/20)

ASC09/OSELTAMIVIR, RITONAVIR/OSELTAMIVIR, OSELTAMIVIR

ASCLETIS, GILEAD, ABBVIE

SEE ABOVE; OSELTAMIVIR IS A SIALIDASE INHIBITOR APPROVED FOR INFLUENZA

ONE TRIAL (NCT04261270, 2/7/20)

AZVUDINE

ZHENGZHOU GRANLEN PHARMATECH

EXPERIMENTAL REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE INHIBITOR DRUG AGAINST HIV-1/AIDS

ONE TRIAL (CHICTR2000029853, 2/15/20)

VARIOUS COMBINATIONS OF BALOXAVIR MARBOXIL/FAVIPIRAVIR AND LOPINAVIR/RITONAVIR

SHIONOGI, TOYAMA CHEMICAL

BALOXAVIR MARBOXIL IS A CAP-DEPENDENT ENDONUCLEASE INHIBITOR AND FAVIPIRAVIR IS A GUANINE ANALOG RNA-DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE INHIBITOR APPROVED FOR INFLUENZA A AND B; SEE ABOVE

TWO TRIALS (CHICTR2000029544, 2/3/20; CHICTR2000029548, 2/4/20)

VARIOUS COMBINATIONS OF DARUNAVIR/COBICISTAT ALONE OR WITH LOPINAVIR/RITONAVIR AND THYMOSIN Α1

JANSSEN, GILEAD

DARUNAVIR AND COBICISTAT ARE, RESPECTIVELY, AN HIV-1 PROTEASE INHIBITOR AND INHIBITOR OF CYTOCHROME P450 (CYP)3A ENZYME, APPROVED AS A COMBINATION AGAINST HIV-1/AIDS. THYMOSIN Α1 IS AN IMMUNE RESPONSE BOOSTING AGENT

TWO TRIALS (NCT04252274, 2/5/20; CHICTR2000029541, 2/3/20)

REMDESIVIR

GILEAD

PHOSPHORAMIDATE PRODRUG OF AN ADENINE ANALOG USED FOR EBOLA AND MARBURG VIRUS OUTBREAKS (SIMILAR STRUCTURE TO APPROVED HIV REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE INHIBITORS)

TWO TRIALS (NCT04252664, 2/5/20; NCT04257656, 2/6/20)

CHLOROQUINE OR HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE

SHANGHAI ZHONGXI PHARMACEUTICAL, SHANGHAI ZIYUAN PHARMACEUTICAL, WUHAN WUYAO PHARMACEUTICAL

ENDOSOMAL ACIDIFICATION FUSION INHIBITOR

AT LEAST TEN TRIALS (E.G., CHICTR2000029826, 2/2/20; NCT04261517, 2/14/20)

METHYLPREDNISOLONE

GENERIC

SYNTHETIC CORTICOSTEROID THAT BINDS TO NUCLEAR RECEPTORS TO DAMPEN PROINFLAMMATORY CYTOKINES

ONE TRIAL (NCT04263402, 2/10/20)

INTERFERON ALFA-2B ALONE OR IN COMBINATION WITH LOPINAVIR/RITONAVIR AND RIBAVIRIN

BIOGEN, MERCK

INTERFERON ALFA-2B IS A RECOMBINANT CYTOKINE WITH ANTIVIRAL PROPERTIES; RIBAVIRIN IS A GUANINE DERIVATIVE; AS ABOVE

TWO TRIALS (NCT04254874, 2/5/20; CHICTR2000029308, 1/23/20)

CAMRELIZUMAB AND THYMOSIN

INCYTE, SHANGHAI HENGRUI PHARMACEUTICAL

CAMRELIZUMAB IS A HUMANIZED MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY (MAB) TARGETING PD-1

TWO TRIALS (CHICTR2000029806, 2/14/20; NCT04268537, 2/14/20)

TOCILIZUMAB

CHUGAI PHARMACEUTICAL, ZHEJIANG HISUN PHARMACEUTICAL, JIANGSU QYUN BIO-PHARMACEUTICAL

HUMANIZED MAB TARGETING INTERLEUKIN-6

ONE TRIAL (CHICTR2000029765, 2/13/20)

LAST SEARCH RUN ON 15 FEBRUARY USING HTTPS://CLINICALTRIALS.GOV AND HTTP://WWW.CHICTR.ORG.CN. EXCLUDES TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINES AND BLOOD-DERIVED PRODUCTS, SUCH AS SERUM FROM RECOVERED PATIENTS AND STEM CELLS. ALL TRIALS ARE BEING CONDUCTED IN CHINA.

Summary: Six potential drug candidates have been identified as candidates to treat COVID-19 infections. The drugs, which have previously been subjected to clinical trials for treating a range of conditions, from arthritis to cancer, target Mpro, the main SARS-CoV-2 enzyme.

Source: University of Queensland

An international team of researchers has tested more than 10,000 compounds to identify six drug candidates that may help treat COVID-19.

The research, involving University of Queensland scientist Professor Luke Guddat, tested the efficacy of approved drugs, drug candidates in clinical trials and other compounds.

“Currently there are no targeted therapeutics or effective treatment options for COVID-19,” Professor Guddat said.

“In order to rapidly discover lead compounds for clinical use, we initiated a program of high-throughput drug screening, both in laboratories and also using the latest computer software to predict how different drugs bind to the virus.

Professor Guddat said the project targeted the main COVID-19 virus enzyme, known as the main protease or Mpro, which plays a pivotal role in mediating viral replication.

“This makes it an attractive drug target for this virus, and as people don’t naturally have this enzyme, compounds that target it are likely to have low toxicity.

“We add the drugs directly to the enzyme or to cell cultures growing the virus and assess how much of each compound is required to stop the enzyme from working or to kill the virus.

“If the amount is small, then we have a promising compound for further studies.”

After assaying thousands of drugs, researchers found of the six that appear to be effective in inhibiting the enzyme, one is of particular interest.

“We’re particularly looking at several leads that have been subjected to clinical trials including for the prevention and treatment of various disorders such as cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, stroke, atherosclerosis and cancer,” Professor Guddat said.

“Compounds that are already along the pipeline to drug discovery are preferred, as they can be further tested as antivirals at an accelerated rate compared to new drug leads that would have to go through this process from scratch.”

A graphic representation of how a discovered compound inhibits the COVID-19 virus main protease. The image is credited to Professor Luke Guddat.

After the enzyme’s structure was made public, the team received more than 300 requests for more information, even before the paper was published.

“To provide an analogy, we’ve provided scientists with a fishing pole, the line and the exact bait, and have in only one month caught some fish,” Professor Guddat said.

“Now it’s up to us and the other fisherman – our fellow scientists globally – to take full advantage of this breakthrough.”

“With continued and up-scaled efforts we are optimistic that new candidates can enter the COVID-19 drug discovery pipeline in the near future.”

Coronavirus M pro

Structure of Mpro from COVID-19 virus and discovery of its inhibitors

A new coronavirus (CoV) identified as COVID-19 virus is the etiological agent responsible for the 2019-2020 viral pneumonia outbreak that commenced in Wuhan1–4. Currently there are no targeted therapeutics and effective treatment options remain very limited. In order to rapidly discover lead compounds for clinical use, we initiated a program of combined structure-assisted drug design, virtual drug screening and high-throughput screening to identify new drug leads that target the COVID-19 virus main protease (Mpro). Mpro is a key CoV enzyme, which plays a pivotal role in mediating viral replication and transcription, making it an attractive drug target for this virus5,6. Here, we identified a mechanism-based inhibitor, N3, by computer-aided drug design and subsequently determined the crystal structure of COVID-19 virus Mpro in complex with this compound. Next, through a combination of structure-based virtual and high-throughput screening, we assayed over 10,000 compounds including approved drugs, drug candidates in clinical trials, and other pharmacologically active compounds as inhibitors of Mpro. Six of these compounds inhibited Mpro with IC50 values ranging from 0.67 to 21.4 μM. Ebselen also exhibited promising antiviral activity in cell-based assays. Our results demonstrate the efficacy of this screening strategy, which can lead to the rapid discovery of drug leads with clinical potential in response to new infectious diseases for which no specific drugs or vaccines are available

COVID-19: Six drug candidates identified

A second pathway into cells for SARS-CoV-2: New understanding of the neuropilin-1 protein could speed vaccine research

Neuropilin-1 receptor helps virus infect cells

Specifically, this team showed that neuropilin-1 was critical for the SARS-CoV-2 virus to enter and infect cells.

By using an antibody to block one region of the neuropilin-1 receptor protein, the researchers showed that SARS-CoV-2 harvested from COVID-19 patients could not infect cells.

Moreover, cells lining the nasal passages from COVID-19 patients that were positive for neuropilin-1 were also positive for the Spike protein. These findings confirmed that Spike uses the neuropilin-1 protein to infect human cells in regions of the body where ACE2 isn’t present.

Daly and colleagues showed that SARS-CoV-2 was able to infect fewer cells if they used a small molecule called EG00229 or antibodies to block the Spike protein’s access to neuropilin-1.

Perhaps the most important implication is that the neuropilin-1 binding region of Spike should be targeted for COVID-19 prevention. Because a number of other human viruses, including Ebola, HIV-1 and highly virulent strains of avian influenza, also share this signature sequence of Spike, neuropilin-1 may be a promiscuous mediator of viral entry.

But it appears that the tango is not over yet. More dance partners have emerged. PIKFyve kinase and CD147 – two proteins – have also been shown to bind Spike and facilitate viral entry. Whether these new partners take center stage or play second fiddle to ACE2 and neuropilin-1 remains to be seen.

Coronavirus Vaccines

This coronavirus has a surface protein that is primed to lock on that receptor and slip its RNA into the cellTrial of Coronavirus Vaccine Made by Moderna Begins in Seattle

Moderna uses genetic material — messenger RNA

CureVac Bids to Develop First mRNA Coronavirus Vaccine

World Health Organization

https://www.who.int/

March 4, 2020, COVID-19 candidate vaccines – 35 candidate vaccines

https://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/key-action/novel-coronavirus-landscape-ncov.pdf?ua=1

Trial of Coronavirus Vaccine Made by Moderna Begins in Seattle

Moderna uses genetic material — messenger RNA — to make vaccines, and the company has nine others in various stages of development, including several for viruses that cause respiratory illnesses. But no vaccine made with this technology has yet reached the market.

By Feb. 24, Moderna had a batch of vaccine ready to ship to the infectious diseases institute, for use in the trial. On March 4, the Food and Drug Administration gave permission for the trial to begin

CureVac Bids to Develop First mRNA Coronavirus Vaccine

RNA vaccine developer CureVac will receive a grant of up to €8.3M from a global partnership to develop an mRNA vaccine against the new coronavirus strain from China.

The agreement follows on from an existing collaboration launched in 2019, when the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI, granted CureVac €30M to develop facilities that can ‘print’ mRNA vaccines. The aim of the new grant is to help CureVac’s preclinical-stage mRNA vaccine for the coronavirus strain to reach clinical trials as quickly as possible.

“Our aspiration is to bring the pathogen’s gene sequence to a vaccine candidate for clinical testing within a few months – which is significantly shorter than where we are now,” stated Richard Hatchett, the CEO of CEPI. “This is an extremely ambitious timeline and even if we are successful—and there can be no guarantee—there will be further challenges to navigate before we can make vaccines widely available.”

Inovio Pharmaceuticals begins human trials for COVID-19 vaccine

Each volunteer will receive two doses of the DNA-based vaccine four weeks apart, with immune response and side effect data expected by late summer or early fall.

While Inovio is using a relatively novel DNA-based approach to trigger an immune response to COVID-19, Moderna is tapping more established messenger RNA-technology with its vaccine to prevent coronavirus.

An approved vaccine probably won’t be available for a while, however. Experts predict it could take 12 to 18 months to get through the necessary safety and effectiveness testing to bring a vaccine to market. Inovio has 15 DNA-based medicines in development for a variety of diseases,

Depending on the results, Inovio plans a much larger Phase 2 trial with 1,000 or more participants —though the exact timing is unclear.

inovio pharmaceuticals-begins-trials-for-covid-19-dna-vaccine

Coronavirus Vaccine Could Be Ready in Six Months: Times

Researchers around the world are toiling to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus. But the creation of a working vaccine that can be safely distributed to a broad population requires a tremendous amount of rigor and caution, so the process is likely to take at least a year.

https://apple.news/AkJcj9VY-QouSaeao2UjISA

Here’s How Covid-19 Immunity Compares to Other Diseases. To stop the pandemic, it is critical to know how our immune system's antibodies fight the coronavirus

https://apple.news/AxPixTlD4SnqrHxfW_cIRMQ

Coronavirus Treatments and Vaccine Development

Vaccines

The race is most intense for a vaccine, a competition that thus far includes major drugmakers Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna.

1) Johnson & Johnson

As one of the leading pharmaceutical companies working on a vaccine, Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday that it's aiming to produce between 600 million and 900 million doses of its own pending cure by the end of the first quarter of 2021 for emergency cases.

J&J also said it has committed more than $1 billion of investment in partnership with the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, to co-fund vaccine research.

Company executives said that if Phase I trials scheduled for September go according to plan it could wind up producing 1 billion or more doses annually. "We have very good early indicators that not only can we depend on this to be a safe vaccine base but also one that will ultimately be effective," J&J CEO Alex Gorsky told CNBC in March.

2) Moderna

Moderna was perhaps the first company to deliver the first experimental virus vaccine to U.S. government researchers when it shipped the maiden batch in February.

The company said in late February that it expected to start a clinical trial of about 20 to 25 healthy volunteers by the end of April in an attempt to see whether two doses of the remedy are safe and effective in developing immunity.

The U.S. government reinforced Moderna's research and development efforts with an additional $483 million in funding, which the company announced on Friday.

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said Friday on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that the funding is particularly critical in aiding manufacturing efforts. "Instead of waiting for the data and then scaling up with manufacturing process ... we can make as many doses as we can. We are doing both in parallel," he said. The company plans to hire up to 150 people to support the effort.

Chairman Noubar Afeyan told CNBC earlier in April that the drug had entered Phase I trials and hoped to advance to Phase II by late spring or early summer. Dr. Anthony Fauci, a central White House health advisor and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Moderna's Phase I trial was launched at "record speed."

3) Pfizer

New York-based Pfizer is also working on a vaccine, which the drugmaker hopes to begin testing in patients in summer 2020. Chief Scientific Officer Mikael Dolsten said earlier in April that the vaccine candidate works by restricting the virus's ability to replicate or expand.

Pfizer had initially planned to begin clinical trials for its Covid-19 candidate by the end of the year, but it's moved up that timeline to start in the third quarter.

On top of that effort, Pfizer is working with BioNTech SE of Germany to generate a vaccine based on cutting-edge gene-based technology. Pfizer expects trials for that vaccine to commence as early as the end of April.

Though the monthslong hunt for a viable, effective drug candidate may appear slow to those unfamiliar with the health-care industry, Jefferies health-care strategist Jared Holz cautioned that the current forecasts represent breakneck speed.

"Typically, vaccines from start to finish may take as long as ten years to complete; here we have been talking about two years or less," he wrote in an email. "The primary factor(s) aiding optimistic thinking are government authorities (including the FDA) intent to fast track the process in order to salvage the country/world from this epidemic."

"Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer seem to be in the lead, so to speak," he added. "In this scenario, given how dire, the first to market advantage could be pretty significant."

4) Others

Rockville, Maryland-based Novavax's vaccine candidate, dubbed NVX-CoV2373, neutralizes a protein "spike" that virus can induce in patients. The company said on April 8 that the vaccine candidate showed a robust immune response in the animals that it tested and that its phase 1 trial in about 130 adult humans should begin mid-May.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, meanwhile, said on April 6 that the Food and Drug Administration had accepted its vaccine candidate, INO-4800, setting the stage for phase 1 human trials. The company added that the phase 1 study will enroll up to 40 healthy adult volunteers in Philadelphia and that each participant will receive two doses of INO-4800 four weeks apart. Initial immune responses and safety data from the study are expected by late summer.

Coronavirus Cases: Statistics

The virus appears most closely related to a SARS like coronavirus found in bats,Na Zhu of the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and colleagues report January 24 in the New England Journal of Medicine. That doesn’t mean that bats passed the virus directly to humans, Bedford says. Another animal could be an intermediate host. “It’s not snakes, though,” he said, referring to a study suggesting that snakes could be a reservoir for the virus (SN: 1/24/20).

November 2019 - March 27, 2020:

How can coronavirus reach in 5 months from 1 case in Wuhan in 11/17/2019 to worldwide

Recovery

Coronavirus Recovery Time

Using available preliminary data, the median time from onset to clinical recovery for mild cases is approximately 2 weeks and is 3-6 weeks for patients with severe or critical disease.

What to expect as you recover from COVID-19

The COVID-19 recovery process, including how quickly you can expect to recover, depends on whether you have a mild, moderate or severe case of the illness.

Recovering from mild COVID-19 illness

Dr. Septimus says that about 80% of people who are infected with the new coronavirus will either experience mild symptoms or be completely asymptomatic.

"We expect that someone with mild symptoms will recover within a week to 10 days," says Dr. Septimus. "If you're experiencing mild illness, you should expect the recovery process to be similar to other significant respiratory viral infections, such as the flu."

Recovering from moderate COVID-19 illness

For people who experience more acute or alarming COVID-19 symptoms — such as symptoms that warrant a visit to an ER or even hospitalization, in some cases — the recovery process is more lengthy than for those with milder symptoms.

"While recovering from a moderate case of COVID-19, it's likely you can expect to experience prolonged fatigue, cough and even shortness of breath," explains Dr. Septimus. "And these prolonged symptoms can go on for several weeks."

Recovering from severe COVID-19 illness

It can take anywhere from several weeks to months to recover from severe COVID-19 illness, and you may be in the intensive care unit and possibly even on a ventilator.

The illness becomes more severe in some people, when either pneumonia develops or the immune system unleashes a very strong "cytokine storm" in an effort to eliminate the virus. This powerful inflammatory response causes what's called acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), leading to lung tissue damage and possibly even respiratory failure.

"If you're recovering from a severe case of COVID-19, it can take some time for your strength and pulmonary function to return back to normal," says Dr. Septimus. "If you spend time on a ventilator, it will take some time to regain your independence to the point where you can go home — and how much time just depends on how much strength you lost and how much damage has been done to your lungs."

Even once you've recovered, you may still be infectious for some time

Once the fever has subsided and your symptoms have been gone for several days, it's important to keep in mind that you may still be contagious.

"There's evidence that even someone who's 72 hours symptom-free may still continue to shed small volumes of the virus via respiratory droplets — although it's unclear exactly how long," warns Dr. Septimus. "In addition, you are likely to continue shedding the virus in your stool for about one to two weeks."

This means that even after you've recovered, you should consider wearing a cloth face covering while out in public or at home if you share it with other people. You should also disinfect commonly touched bathroom surfaces, including the flusher and faucet handle, after using the restroom and washing your hands with soap and water.

There can be long-term side effects of COVID-19

Similar to anyone recovering from a severe inflammatory response within his or her lungs, a severe case of COVID-19 that's characterized by ARDS has the potential to cause long-term lung damage.

"In addition, evidence is emerging that some people are prone to developing cardiomyopathy several weeks after recovering from COVID-19," warns Dr. Septimus. "It's one of the biggest things we worry about in people who seemed to have made a full recovery."

We don't yet know if you can be reinfected with COVID-19

For some types of infections, the body can develop immunity to the particular germ — protecting you from reinfection. But, in the case of COVID-19, it's still unclear whether you can be reinfected after recovering from the illness.

"The hope is that once you're infected with COVID-19, you will be immune for at least some period of time — but we just don't know this yet," explains Dr. Septimus.

Your antibody-rich plasma may be able to help those currently fighting COVID-19

In the absence of a vaccine or effective treatment option specific to COVID-19, physician-scientists at Houston Methodist are using an experimental type of blood-transfusion therapy, called convalescent plasma therapy, to help critically ill COVID-19 patients.

Convalescent plasma therapy uses blood plasma from people who've recovered from COVID-19 and transfuses it into people who are currently fighting the disease. The hope is that a recovered individual's plasma contains powerful antibodies that can help another person fight COVID-19 more effectively.

"In a particularly dire situation in which a critically ill patient looks like he or she may not make it, someone's willingness to donate plasma could potentially save a life," Dr. Septimus says. "There's no guarantee that convalescent plasma therapy will work, since this is still an experimental therapy, but it's worth a shot."

March 11, 2020:

116,741

Recovered / Discharged:

64,752 (94%) mild recovered

Deaths:

4,095 (6%) serious

March 27, 2020

CLOSED CASES

148,420

Cases which had an outcome:

124,331 (84%)

Recovered / Discharged

24,089 (16%)

Deaths

Around the world, COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to grow each day. Yet, there are also more than 124,331 people globally who have recovered to date.

Last updated: June 27, 2020, 00:00 GMT

ACTIVE CASES

CLOSED CASES

Show Statistics

4,051,491

Currently Infected Patients

Show Graph

Jan 22Jun 02Feb 03Feb 15Feb 27Mar 10Mar 22Apr 03Apr 15Apr 27May 09May 21Jun 1402.5M5M

5,845,456

Cases which had an outcome:

3,993,853 (99%)

in Mild Condition

5,349,411 (92%)

Recovered / Discharged

57,638 (1%)

Serious or Critical

496,045 (8%)

Deaths

Around the world, COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to grow each day. Yet, there are also more than 5,349,411 people globally who have recovered to date.

Last updated: November 1, 2020, 00:00 GMT

United States

Coronavirus Cases:

9,431,961

Deaths:

236,247

Recovered:

6,073,485

CLOSED CASES

6,309,732

Cases which had an outcome:

6,073,485 (96%)

Recovered / Discharged

236,247 (4%)

Deaths

How to Help Your Community During the Coronavirus Crisis

Help First Responders

Homeland Security

https://www.ready.gov/

https://www.ready.gov/kit

Important Numbers – Emergency and Important Phone Numbers in the United States

EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBERS

Police, Fire, Ambulance: 9-1-1 , TTY 911 or Text to 9-1-1.

County Emergency Information Line: TTY 711

Public Safety Non-Emergency: TTY

    • Local police department – *For non-emergencies
    • Local fire department – *For non-emergencies
    • Local hospital
    • Doctor’s
    • Dentist
    • Pharmacy
    • Health insurance plan and policy number
    • Personal emergency contact list

2-1-1 For Community, Human Services and Emergency Management / Security Assistance

Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222, TTY 711

Department of Transportation: 5-1-1 Traffic and Transportation Information

Weather - National Weather Service Updates: TTY 711

Help Healthcare Workers Get Equipment

One of the most critical problems during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the widespread shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE)—masks, isolation gowns, face shields, exam gloves—designed to keep healthcare workers safe while treating others.

Trump said 3M agreed to provide 55.5 million masks a month for the U.S. for three months. Most of them will be the highly coveted N95 respirators that filter out 95% of all particulates.

GM to build 30,000 ventilators for national stockpile through $489.4 million contract under Defense Production Act

Feed Healthcare Workers

Those on the frontlines of this crisis need to be fortified with good food, and a number of groups are collecting funds to feed doctors, nurses, EMTs, and others from restaurants, many of which are now only serving takeout. The great news is that a donation will support local restaurants as well as those healthcare workers who are putting their lives at risk every day.

$19 Billion for Ailing Farmers

This drug and two vitamins may help prevent and treat COVID-19

COVID-19 and nutrition for health

Get Food to People in Need

More than 10 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the past two weeks, and that number is likely to rise in the weeks ahead. But emergency food sources are diminishing. “The food bank network has received 50 percent less food from manufacturers than they have in the past, at a time when that network is distributing 100 times more,” Forrester says.

How to help: Donate money or food directly to local food banks. You can find ones nearby using this tooloperated by Feeding America, a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs. (If you want to contribute food, call to find out what they need and how to deliver it safely.) Feeding America also has a COVID Response Fund, which will distribute funds throughout its national network.

$19 Billion for Ailing Farmers

This drug and two vitamins may help prevent and treat COVID-19

COVID-19 and nutrition for health

Pay for Work Not Done (If You Can)

Cares Act: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was enacted on March 27, 2020 to provide relief for Americans facing economic hardship due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, including emergency financial assistance for affected individuals, families, and businesses. In addition, the Treasury Department moved the deadline to file and pay 2019 federal income taxes from April 15 to July 15, 2020

April 11 - STIMULUS CHECKS FOR UP TO $4,700 BEGIN ARRIVING IN BANK ACCOUNTS

June 22 - Congress may pass another coronavirus relief package before the end of 2020

Put Your Own Skills to Work

. Web designers are much in need right now. "Many brick-and-mortar stores have to shift to an e-commerce model," says Luca Cusolito, founder of Creative Enabler, a coaching business for creative professionals, "Businesses may be in need of people who can set up websites, write copy, and photograph products."

Support the Arts

Across the U.S., institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles have closed their doors, and many have had to lay off staff.

Donate Blood

The American Red Cross told Consumer Reports that as of April 1, nearly 13,000 of its blood drives were canceled across the country due to concerns about the coronavirus, resulting in more than 375,000 fewer blood donations.

Don't Forget Animals

"COVID-19 is putting an immense amount of stress on animal shelters across the country," says Matt Bershadker, president and CEO of the ASPCA.

https://www.refugeassociation.org/news/2020/3/18/covid-19-national-wildlife-refuge-system-update

Coronavirus Success Stories

Coronavirus survivors talk about their symptoms, recovery

Healthcare

Why health insurance is important: Protection from high medical costs

Medical Costs

2018 - Hospital and Surgery Costs - Hospital costs averaged $3,949 per day and each hospital stay cost an average of $15,734.

Coronavirus Resources