Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

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vijayk
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by vijayk »

https://swarajyamag.com/insta/indian-ra ... -of-trucks
Indian Railways Steps In To Ensure Seamless Movement Of Medical Oxygen; Issues Guidelines For RoRo Movement Of Trucks
In a bid to ensure seamless availability of medical oxygen in the wake of the surge in demand amid the ongoing rise of fresh Covid-19 cases, Indian Railways has stepped in to support and ease the movement of liquid medical oxygen tankers across the country, reports Hindu Businessline.

Indian Railways has issued the guidelines for the movement of trucks carrying liquid medical oxygen under its roll on and roll off (RoRo) scheme under which trucks will be transported on trains which will then move to the destined locations.

Indian Railways has issued the transportation rates, weight requirements and other such details. Indian Railways has also decided to not levy any surcharges and to provide five hours of free cargo handling time.
srikandan
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by srikandan »

CNN: The world's biggest vaccine producer is running out of Covid-19 vaccines, as second wave accelerates
so the human garbage american vermin under xiden shut down the pipeline and then do "nyah nyah you have no vaccines. die scum" dance, relishing the fact that India is unable to produce vaccines to help ourselves, and knowing fully well that they can help but they won't do that just to show us our place in their white world. These effing american losers are just garbage, and to think these scumbags were dumping on the previous admin for being scum of the earth. The irony. Indian americans who voted for these scum are India's enemies -- no two ways about it.

This evil asshattery from the americans must not be forgotten. CNN is a mouthpiece for the US State dept. effing nazi lowlives.
Raja
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Raja »

vijayk wrote:
Raja wrote:
Quite frankly, your friend has no clue what he is talking about.
I dismissed him like that only ... But the number of infections I am hearing in India with AZ vaccinated people is worrying me.

That's why I don't want to dismiss these theories
I am not sure how many people have gotten both doses of vaccines yet, but it cannot be more than 80-90 million. That still leaves > 1 billion people who have not been vaccinated. Add to that most of the people got vaccinated in the past 30-45 days. So many of them have not had a chance to build enough immunity.

Given the large scale numbers involved (both for vaccinated and unvaccinated), I hope you realize that there is no friggin' way anyone can have a clue if the vaccines are working on not, unless they have sponsored a population level scientific study with bunch of statisticians and data scientists crunching the data. If not, then you are just farting and adding more stink in the air.
Raja
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Raja »

srikandan wrote:
CNN: The world's biggest vaccine producer is running out of Covid-19 vaccines, as second wave accelerates
so the human garbage american vermin under xiden shut down the pipeline
Either all these articles coming out in the national and international press are lies or there IS a shortage of vaccination on the ground. Harsh Vardhan has repeated time and time again that there is no shortage. But, why are vaccination centers closing down or is that a lie? Yet even in this forum there have been reported cases of relatives being turned back because there is no vaccine available.

Lacking transparency people start blaming things like vaccination hesitancy for lower daily vaccination numbers and asking for expanding of target group age. But that is the worst thing we can do right now if the lower numbers are due to vaccination supply hiccups. Without knowing the truth, we cannot have real solutions.
sudeepj
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by sudeepj »

https://www.businesstoday.in/coronaviru ... 36474.html

SII can produce about 70 million doses and BB about 12.5 million. This is nominal capacity and actual is probably a bit lower than this. If the demand for vaccines is more than the supply, that defines a shortage. The most people we have vaccinated in a day is 4 million. If this is assumed to be the peak vaccination rate, we can do 120 million vaccinations a month, if we are vaccinating at that rate every day. So we are clearly bumping into production constraints and there is a shortage of vaccines.

Possibly by June or July, the production capacity will ramp up. Till this time, we either import a few crore doses of sputnik or J&J to last us till June, or beg Biden for some of the vaccines he is hoarding.

Or we practice Covid protocols.

Vit D+zinc, masks, distancing, nasal washes/neti, lockdowns..
Philip
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Philip »

Gents, leaving aside the debate on why the wave 2 is happening and who is to blame,the goal is for us to survive.
Therefore let me share with you a few tips on what has definitely helped over the last year. Advice from reputed docs,etc.

1.Use coconut oil in the nostrils 3 to 4 times a day.It prevents the bug from entering the nose,upper respiratory tract.

2.Steaming 2 to 3 times daily.The bug can't take thd heat.The medical shops have v.inexpensive steamers.

3. The CV multivit which includes vit.D.

4. Ozone therapy.
Bombay: Contact the Ozone Forum of India.Dr.Milli Shah.
Locate the OT centres from the OFI which administering the saline ozonated drip. If you have symptoms,go to one before testing since +ve tests are reported, you must go to a regular hospital with a CV ward. One sitting is usually enough to cure you.
I have had a few of my staff cured including a close relative. It costs peanuts too,only a few thou. per session. No need of hospitilisation,you go back home.

To my knowledge,there are centres in Bombay,Pune?,Hyderabad,Bangalore,Chennai and a few other cities in TN where a Dr.Arul is administering the same.
OT appears to be the only almost 100% cure from CV. OT is being widely used internationally in EU countries,the US,etc. Some people are taking it as a preventive measure too even without symptoms.I advise one to check the net for further details about OT's success internnationally .It also reportedly helps speed up
recovery for those recovering from CV.

In addition,OT has for several years been v.effective in relieving diabetics,preventing amputation,etc.

So friends, all is not lost.Please try these methods and stay safe!
Raja
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Raja »

Philip wrote:Gents, leaving aside the debate on why the wave 2 is happening and who is to blame,the goal is for us to survive.
Therefore let me share with you a few tips on what has definitely helped over the last year. Advice from reputed docs,etc.
Every single person that I know who has gotten covid (recovered or died) has been doing those things, especially steaming multiple times in a day. There is absolutely no reason to believe that any of those things actually help. You have been either been not exposed or you are one of the lucky people who is able to fend off the virus.
chetak
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by chetak »

caught with his langotiya down after being bested by Modi in the farmer's "protests", all these folks have found a new way to blame the Center.

IIRC, industrial licenses are issued by the state govts.

The center has no role in this

amarinder has always been special in such matters, the king can do no wrong so why would he accept the responsibility now.

the center should cooperate with amarinder and ONLY procure oxygen via the arthiyas at a huge MSP

"Oxygen plants we wanted to set up are still waiting for permission from the Centre. We had written to Piyush Goyal on this issue yesterday. Right now, we are not facing any issue with oxygen supply": Capt. Amarinder Singh, Punjab CM
Last edited by chetak on 18 Apr 2021 15:39, edited 1 time in total.
nam
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by nam »

I follow some doctors on Twitter, who seems to have been warning about increased patients with covid and the second wave in Mumbai, in early Feb!

Either the virus starts spread 3-4 months from the previous peak or there was something in January, which triggered this wave.
Sumeet
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Sumeet »

nam wrote:I follow some doctors on Twitter, who seems to have been warning about increased patients with covid and the second wave in Mumbai, in early Feb!

Either the virus starts spread 3-4 months from the previous peak or there was something in January, which triggered this wave.

Was there any unambiguous word of caution from ICMR, AIIMS and other established Medical facilities/Orgs/Institution in Dec/Jan/Feb timeframe ?
plushyphen
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by plushyphen »

Raja wrote:
Philip wrote:Gents, leaving aside the debate on why the wave 2 is happening and who is to blame,the goal is for us to survive.
Therefore let me share with you a few tips on what has definitely helped over the last year. Advice from reputed docs,etc.
Every single person that I know who has gotten covid (recovered or died) has been doing those things, especially steaming multiple times in a day. There is absolutely no reason to believe that any of those things actually help. You have been either been not exposed or you are one of the lucky people who is able to fend off the virus.

Surprising because I'm presently covid positive and the magic steam does to the upper respiratory body parts is nothing short of wonder. I believe if I had heeded to this advice earlier, I wouldn't have been positive.

While I'm not sure of ozone therapy, there is more than sufficient reason to suspect that the others work. And reason to suspect is enough to implement. "Reason to believe" is too far-fetched. That high a standard cannot be even applied to covaxin/covishield at this moment.
Pratyush
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Pratyush »

plushyphen wrote: Surprising because I'm presently covid positive and the magic steam does to the upper respiratory body parts is nothing short of wonder. I believe if I had heeded to this advice earlier, I wouldn't have been positive.

While I'm not sure of ozone therapy, there is more than sufficient reason to suspect that the others work. And reason to suspect is enough to implement. "Reason to believe" is too far-fetched. That high a standard cannot be even applied to covaxin/covishield at this moment.
Steam helps in common cold as well. So it could be providing symptomatic relief in vivid 19 cases. Doesn't mean that this is a treatment of the illness. Nor is it a recognised part of the treatment protocol, IIRC.

Request to all members. Please don't share any protocol that is not approved by the ICMR. Or any other nationally recognised medical body.

Remember neem haqim khatrae e jaan. Also please don't forward what's app posts of suggestions to other groups unless you have verified the contents of the post through the nationally recognised bodies.

It is vitally important to make sure that mis information is not spread. As it is important to share accurate information.
Thakur_B
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Thakur_B »

Steam isn't effective in controlling viral load. Simple warm saline gargles are more effective.
Manish_P
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Manish_P »

nam wrote:I follow some doctors on Twitter, who seems to have been warning about increased patients with covid and the second wave in Mumbai, in early Feb!

Either the virus starts spread 3-4 months from the previous peak or there was something in January, which triggered this wave.
Mumbai Suburban railway services for all users were resumed from around 01st Feb. The middle class (and lower class) crowd started using the services to go across the length of the city for work commute, as offices also asked max workforce to rejoin. Doctors in our area (northern suburbs of mumbai) started talking about the second wave from that time itself
Manish_P
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Manish_P »

Thakur_B wrote:Steam isn't effective in controlling viral load. Simple warm saline gargles are more effective.
Thakur ji. A lot of doctors (at least Family Physicians in Mumbai) are recommending both steam inhalation (to attack the virus in the nasal region) and the hot water gargling (to further attack it in the throat area). The aim seems to be to reduce the viral load to the extent possible, before it moves to the lungs.

They are recommending this as thrice a day habit even if you don't have COVID19 symptoms (i had recently gone to my family Physician for some other ailment). also heard this within my society and office colleagues groups.
Raja
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Raja »

Wouldn't be the first time doctors pass out unproven and wrong advice. At least it is not particularly harmful as long as you don't end up burning yourself with the hot water (which happens).
Deans
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Deans »

Though there is a lot of doom and gloom because of the unprecedented speed at which the 2nd wave is hitting us, I see some cause for comfort in a few numbers.

Covid has almost entirely affected the Urban population. That's 50 crore Indians.
96% of deaths have been over 45, which is 22% of population, or 11 crore people in Urban India.
Almost all these 11 crore will get their first shot by early May and be fully vaccinated by early July. That will reduce deaths to negligible levels.
In fact vaccinations will be ramped up, just when demand for them in India will drop, which is finem because then we can export.
SandeepA
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by SandeepA »

KA CM Yeduriappa contracted Covid for the 2nd time. I'm sure he was vaccinated as well. So nothing..really nothing provides immunity against this virus.
Tanaji
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Tanaji »

I have always wondered how the steam is supposed to work. The virus needs to be in an environment above 100c to be killed. You are not inhaling anything at that temperature you are going to get burnt, so how would it help?

I have no doubt it provides symptomatic relief by personal experience, but not sure of how it reduces viral load. Something like jal neti would be more effective...
Manish_P
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Manish_P »

SandeepA wrote:KA CM Yeduriappa contracted Covid for the 2nd time. I'm sure he was vaccinated as well. So nothing..really nothing provides immunity against this virus.
The first gen of vaccines were/are primarily meant to reduce the severity of the attack (keeping the illness manageable without needing extensive Hospitalisation). This virus is still not completely understood.. extensive research will continue until hopefully soon very reliable treatment process becomes the norm. Total immunization vaccination might then follow.
Manish_P
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Manish_P »

Tanaji wrote:I have always wondered how the steam is supposed to work. The virus needs to be in an environment above 100c to be killed. You are not inhaling anything at that temperature you are going to get burnt, so how would it help?

I have no doubt it provides symptomatic relief by personal experience, but not sure of how it reduces viral load. Something like jal neti would be more effective...
I agree. What i suspect is that there are a lot of cases of the regular seasonal flu. The doctors are prescribing the steam inhalation (along with hot water gargling, and anti biotics) to check, as a first step, if it is the regular flu or not. If the condition doesn't improve in a day or so, then they are asking to go for COVID tests.

Please note that this is my personal experience only (based on interactions with neighbor residents and office colleagues - all based in Mumbai).
Zynda
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Zynda »

How are we holding up on vaccination numbers? I think we are not able to cross 5 Mil/day...holding steady at around 2.5 to 3.5 Mil...I think vaccination supply challenges are there as well as people may be hesitant to visit vaccination site due to fear of contracting Covid on-site. May and June will be not so good for India...I hope once we sort out production issues to a certain extent, we stop this export or vaccine diplomacy tamasha and go on a war footing to try to vaccinate 60% of our population at least by end of this year.
nvishal
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by nvishal »

Last year was a walk in the park compared to this season
My friends have tested positive. Relatives in my native telangana have tested positive.

Thankfully all are alive and survived it. Symptomatic individuals felt some phlegm deposit in the chest. Local doctor gave some medicines and told them to wait 2 days before going for covid test. Ct scan revealed severity score. If score above 10 then admit in Hosp. Most had 4-8 score(mild) and got home treatment/isolation and prescribed ivermectin, zinc and vit tablets. Recovered in 3-5 days. Cases above mild(low oxygen) being given favipirapir. Serious cases are being given all kinds of cocktail. Apparently there is a line which once crossed becomes difficult to treat. I recommended everyone to keep one oximeter at home to record each family members oxygen level three times a day. Lookout for strange cough infections and Strange feeling in lung.
Raja
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Raja »

Deans wrote:
Covid has almost entirely affected the Urban population. That's 50 crore Indians.
Please consider that it is far more difficult for people in rural areas to get tested and hence, counted.
Raja
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Raja »

SandeepA wrote:KA CM Yeduriappa contracted Covid for the 2nd time. I'm sure he was vaccinated as well. So nothing..really nothing provides immunity against this virus.
Please go back to your highschool text books and refresh the chapter on probability. Then do some basic reading on vaccinations and their effectiveness. That will help you against panicking and spreading false information.
Suraj
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Suraj »

sudeepj wrote:https://www.businesstoday.in/coronaviru ... 36474.html

SII can produce about 70 million doses and BB about 12.5 million. This is nominal capacity and actual is probably a bit lower than this. If the demand for vaccines is more than the supply, that defines a shortage. The most people we have vaccinated in a day is 4 million. If this is assumed to be the peak vaccination rate, we can do 120 million vaccinations a month, if we are vaccinating at that rate every day. So we are clearly bumping into production constraints and there is a shortage of vaccines.

Possibly by June or July, the production capacity will ramp up. Till this time, we either import a few crore doses of sputnik or J&J to last us till June, or beg Biden for some of the vaccines he is hoarding.

Or we practice Covid protocols.

Vit D+zinc, masks, distancing, nasal washes/neti, lockdowns..
Supply chain consists of three elements, not two . Production , consumption and stockpile:
The ‘Vaccine Shortage’: what is really happening

Since I wrote it, SII indicated scale up to 100M doses by mid late May. BB scaling up across May to Aug. Sputnik imports end April, production in May.

The tricky period is through June/July by which time supply should hopefully align with consumption rate .
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Mort Walker »

Raja wrote:
Deans wrote:
Covid has almost entirely affected the Urban population. That's 50 crore Indians.
Please consider that it is far more difficult for people in rural areas to get tested and hence, counted.
However deaths are accounted for by district administrations. Surveillance of contagious diseases in India is very good as measles and polio have been successfully tackled.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Mort Walker »

Suraj,

Can you post the entire article as a sticky here if possible? It seems even people on this thread have not read it, and certainly not the DDM who have their heads up their arse.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Zynda »

We have been so focused on vaccination but not on a drug. It seems like Reneneron Antibody Cocktail has been granted EUA in US back in Nov 2020 and recently Ph-3 trials have shown good results.

Regeneron Antibody Cocktail May Reduce COVID-19 Hospitalization by 70%
Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody drug treatment can reduce COVID-19 hospitalization and death by 70 percent, according to a press release published March 23.

The treatment also reduced the length of COVID-19 symptoms by 4 days, on average.

All Regeneron doses that were tested — 8,000 milligrams (mg), 2,400 mg, and 1,200 mg — were similarly effective.

Regeneron originally planned to have 750,000 doses available by June. If the lower doses are approved for use, the company could potentially produce 1.25 million by then.

The treatment was given to former President Donald Trump shortly after he contracted the coronavirus in October 2020. Trump’s condition improved soon after receiving the treatment.

The Regeneron antibody treatment, which was granted emergency use authorization for high-risk groups in November 2020, is the third antibody combination now available in the United States.

Treatment significantly improves outcomes from COVID-19
The new findings come from Regeneron’s phase 3 trial, which is the largest clinical trial to date that has evaluated a COVID-19 treatment in people who have COVID-19 but aren’t hospitalized.

The trial included 4,567 people who recently developed COVID-19 and were high risk for severe illness.

The 2,400-mg dose reportedly cut the risk of hospitalization and death by 71 percent. The 1,200-mg dose cut the risk of hospitalization by 70 percent.

Regeneron plans to request the Food and Drug Administration to approve the lower dosage, which could help ramp up supply.

The antibody combination also shortened the duration of symptoms by 4 days, on average.

It wasn’t given to people hospitalized for COVID-19. Some monoclonal antibody treatments have been associated with worse outcomes when given to people hospitalized for COVID-19 who require oxygen or mechanical ventilation.

How does the Regeneron treatment work?
The treatment contains two neutralizing antibody drugs, casirivimab and imdevimab. It’s administered through a vein.

The two antibodies work similarly to the antibodies the immune system naturally produces to fight the coronavirus.

The antibodies attach to the spike protein of the coronavirus and prevent it from latching onto our cells, explained Dr. Debra Powell, the chief of infectious diseases at Tower Health.

“These antibodies last for a short period of time and do not provide long-term antibody protection,” Powell said.

By fighting the virus’s ability to bind to our cells, the antibody treatment can improve COVID-19 symptoms and prevent the disease from worsening.

The treatment works best when given earlier in the course of disease, ideally within 10 days after symptoms develop.

“The idea is to stop the virus before it even becomes a problem,” said Dr. Melissa Fiorini, an emergency medicine physician at St. Peter’s Hospital in New York.

The drug is intended for people who are at risk for hospitalization or death.

At the first sight of symptoms, Fiorini said people with high risk for severe COVID-19 should get tested and treated as soon as possible.

Could variants resist the monoclonal antibodies?
Potentially. Certain variants have diminished the effectiveness of other monoclonal antibodies.

The findings published by Regeneron on March 23 state that “circulating SARS-CoV-2 viral variants may be associated with resistance to monoclonal antibodies.”

The monoclonal antibodies are designed to neutralize the spike protein, which is where many of the variants’ mutations exist.

Early evidence suggests Regeneron’s antibody treatment retained its potent neutralizing capability against variants.

Laboratory tests have found that Regeneron’s antibody treatment holds up against variants, including the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the United Kingdom and the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa.

“Imdevimab retained its potency against this variant [B.1.351], and while casirivimab potency was reduced, it was still comparable to the potency that other single antibodies in development have against the original virus,” Powell said.

The variant detected in Brazil, called 1.1.248, has the same mutations as the B.1.351 variant, so the Regeneron treatment is expected to remain similarly effective, according to Powell.

Fiorini said it’s unclear how in vitro findings will compare with clinical disease.

Regeneron is continuing to test the treatment against variants, including the variant detected in Brazil.
It would have been prudent on GoI to request Regeneron to conduct their own trails here in India. Quite possible GoI did and perhaps Regeneron were not interested. Anyways, such an above drug would have been really helpful in the current situation...

BTW, BLR hit 12.5K cases today...models were estimating case loads exceeding 10K by early May...
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Zynda »

Any other Covid related drugs in advanced stages of development? Vaccination is the way to go forward but having a drug helps as well...
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Atmavik »

Lucknow: DRDO hospitals to harness Tejas tech for oxygen fix

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arti ... aign=cppst
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by vera_k »

The high-risk young demanding Covid jabs
India has tens of thousands of young patients who are in the high risk category and need vaccination urgently.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Karan M »

We really need to look at prophylaxis and drug treatment cocktails now, beyond Remdesivir alone. And need to take that up on a war footing. There is little chance we can vaccinate all our population this year. The SII production has all been throttled by US sanctions/supply chain squeeze, merely a month remains before production grinds to a halt. No reports yet of US relenting. Covaxin will take time to ramp up and even that will require CSIR help to replace the import dependence on specific raw materials.

We are headed for Wave 3, Wave 4 given the general nonchalance of the Indian population, and their short term memory. Ergo we need a propylaxis protocol (Ivermectin is the most likely candidate but we can likely find others too) and a more rapid focus on treatment modalities. There is a clear difference between the gora trained Drs who prefer to go strictly by the book and are prescribing only RCT grade protocols and the desi crowd dealing with a massive surge which has thrown the kitchen sink, and has many useful anecdotal bits of information, which when combined may yield actual gems. We need to start a process to catalogue the same. One way or the other, cant depend on vaccination alone.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by vera_k »

Karan M wrote:The SII production has all been throttled by US sanctions/supply chain squeeze, merely a month remains before production grinds to a halt.
Is there any reference for this? IIRC, the SII supply constraint dependency on US supplies is for starting production of the Novavax vaccine.
Suraj
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Suraj »

SII is constrained by US-sourced raw material for Novavax production according to Poonawalla. Novavax is a US company trying to produce in India, and it's a case of US shooting itself in the foot by licensing SII to make something and then denying them the associated inputs.

Covishield is not tied directly to anything US; SII are constrained by capital needs to scale beyond 100m doses/month, a level they will reach in May/June. they've already sunk in the costs of expansion from 60m/month to 100m/month and it's a matter of time before it comes on stream.

Covaxin is tied to US sourced adjuvant and they're actively collaborating with CSIR to devise and locally mass manufacture a domestic alternative. It seems that is going ok, because they're estimating increasing from current 5m/month to 12m/month and then to as much as 60m/month by end of summer.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Zynda »

Atmavik wrote:Lucknow: DRDO hospitals to harness Tejas tech for oxygen fix

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arti ... aign=cppst
This is actually awesome...ready made example of spin-off from defence to civilian application.

The chairman of AIIMS was saying he is disappointed that development of anti-viral drug for Covid is not being pursued with the same fervor as vaccine development...basically drugs are needed to supplement vaccination efforts in containing and mitigating effects of future variants of Covid.

Anyways, found that one of the newer anti-viral drug for Covid has been showing promising results in animal/hamster model studies.

Suraj, you seem to have some reach to get visibility from top folks or means of it...perhaps you can write another article asking ICMR/GoI to look in to these developments (if they have not already) and take steps/invite them Pharma companies/Universities to do Ph-3 trials in India as well (parallel with US/UK/EU) if needed with an Indian pharma partner.

Experimental antiviral drug for COVID-19 shows effectiveness in hamster models
The experimental antiviral drug MK-4482 significantly decreased levels of virus and disease damage in the lungs of hamsters treated for SARS-CoV-2 infection, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health scientists. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19. MK-4482, delivered orally, is now in human clinical trials. Remdesivir, an antiviral drug already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use against COVID-19, must be provided intravenously, making its use primarily limited to clinical settings.

In their study, published in the journal Nature Communications, the scientists found MK-4482 treatment effective when provided up to 12 hours before or 12 hours after infecting the hamsters with SARS-CoV-2. These data suggest that MK-4482 treatment potentially could mitigate high-risk exposures to SARS-CoV-2, and might be used to treat established SARS-CoV-2 infection alone or possibly in combination with other agents.

The same research group, located at Rocky Mountain Laboratories, part of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Hamilton, Montana, developed the hamster model last year to mimic SARS-CoV-2 infection and mild disease in people. The University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom collaborated on these most recent studies.

The project involved three groups of hamsters: a pre-infection treatment group; a post-infection treatment group; and an untreated control group. For the two treatment groups, scientists administered MK-4482 orally every 12 hours for three days. At the conclusion of the study, the animals in each of the treatment groups had 100 times less infectious virus in their lungs than the control group. Animals in the two treatment groups also had significantly fewer lesions in the lungs than the control group.

The scientists determined the MK-4482 treatment doses for this study based on previous experiments performed in mouse models of SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV. In those studies, MK-4482 was effective at stopping the viruses from replicating.

With funding support from NIAID, Emory University's Drug Innovation Ventures group in Atlanta developed MK-4482 (also known as molnupiravir and EIDD-2801) to treat influenza. Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics are now jointly developing and evaluating MK-4482 as a potential COVID-19 treatment. The drug is in Phase 2 and 3 human clinical studies.
Manas
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Manas »

Karan M wrote:We really need to look at prophylaxis and drug treatment cocktails now, beyond Remdesivir alone. And need to take that up on a war footing. There is little chance we can vaccinate all our population this year.
I am not a health care professional and all my information comes from tons of reading, collating all the reports about COVID for many months. The "best/gold standard" care anyone can get in the U.S. is the Trump treatment (all given at a fairly early stage in the disease cycle). Remdisivir, Monoclonal Antibody (MAB) therapy (Lilly or Regeneron) and Dexamethasone. I am not aware India has any supply, contract for the MAB therapies which seem to be the most promising of all the therapeutics for COVID.

The one promising anti-viral that seems to have shown good efficacy against COVID is being developed by Merck (in partnership with a smaller Bio Tech). Still in phase 3 clinical trials. This is a pill and seems to be more easy to administer with "take at home" potential.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features ... inst-covid

It is very clear from all the anecdotal evidence that the Eli Lilly and Regeneron mono clonal antibodies are effective as well but ONLY during early phases of disease progression. In fact they also seem to work as prophylactics. However the Trump admin had signed contracts for a few hundred thousand doses at an exorbitant amount something like $2-$3K per treatment course. Also they were supply limited back then and now may have a few million doses on offer. However, the monoclonal antibody treatment needs to be IV infused in a clinical setting (which is cumbersome for a "outpatient"). It also requires 5 days, 1 dose per day so requires as many clinic visits for 2-3 hours of IV treatment. One of the reasons that a lot of the U.S. supplies are apparently going unused (per 1 WSJ article) in U.S. hospitals.

When a country like India or Brazil is dealing with 100'sK infections per day - unless it is a "pill like" "take at home" prescription medication it would be logistically difficult to use mono clonal antibodies as therapeutics. However, they could be used as "vaccine bridges" and could provide immunity for 3-6 months till more vaccine supplies become available but even if GOI is able to procure 10M+ doses within 3-4 weeks and administer it as a "vaccine bridge" to high risk population that needs "immediate" immunity the #s India is dealing with (for ex. 10M doses is 3 days of vaccinations at the current rate) they will not move the needle. However they do have the ability to save 1000's of lives if administered to "high risk" patients early in the disease cycle before they worsen enough needing to be hospitalized.

Indian medical community seems to be using Remdisivir, Invermectin, Tocilizumab, Favipiravir in certain combinations. Other than Remdisivir I do not believe any of the other treatments above are being employed in the U.S. As luck would have it the much touted Remdisivir has been declared a "dud" by the WHO.
In addition to the above, for seriously ill patients Indian doctors seem to be combining the above treatments with Oxygen supplement and steroids such as Dexamethasone. Very few patients that have to be put on a ventilator seem to make it out of the hospital. There is no miracle cure at this point for this horrible virus if the patient arrives at the hospital at a very late stage with a serious pneumonia, low oxygen & damaged lungs.
nachiket
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by nachiket »

I have stopped reading twitter because it is so depressing. Every other tweet is by some poor soul begging for a hospital bed, oxygen, blood plasma for their loved ones or most distressingly Remdesivir which the WHO does not believe is effective anyway. But I know that if I had been in their situation I would be desperate enough to try anything and everything as well so you can't even tell people about its ineffectiveness in good conscience. I do not remember things being anywhere this bad last year. Just when we thought there was light at the end of the tunnel, we have been hit by the freight train.

What I find most astonishing is the lack of fear among healthy people who still refuse to appreciate the need for masks and social distancing. From anecdotal evidence, this tsunami has hit people living in apartment buildings much harder than those in slums. These are people for whom it should have been much easier to follow all precautions but they were either careless or indifferent or had people around them, especially younger ones who could not stay away from restaurants and bars and other avenues of having their fun in the middle of a pandemic.

The local government restrictions seem to dramatically shift from "sab chalta hai" to police harassing people for not wearing masks while alone inside their own car or not being allowed to drive at all, after the proverbial sh1t has hit the fan.
Mort Walker
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Mort Walker »

Atmavik wrote:Lucknow: DRDO hospitals to harness Tejas tech for oxygen fix

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arti ... aign=cppst
This is exactly why it is so so important to invest in the MIC. No more imports of entire weapons systems. Components and subsystems are fine.
Y I Patel
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Y I Patel »

I have to admit I was wrong about Novavax... does not seem to be a pressure tactic to get India to approve the vaccine. Given that the emergency situation in US is fast receding, there is no reason for the ban on export of raw materials to continue. At this point it seems to be more of a ploy to tip the advantage in favor of Pfizer and Moderna by handicapping the competition.
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