Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2020)
6A — THE OBSERVER SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020 NATION Att ention shifts to potential coronavirus treatments Drugs used to treat other illnesses being used in trials “We’re looking at drugs that are already approved for other indications.” By Marilynn Marchione Dr. Stephen Hahn, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner The Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump focused attention on pos- sible treatments for the new coronavirus on Thursday, citing potential use of a drug long used to treat malaria and some other approaches still in testing. At a White House news conference, Trump and Food and Drug Adminis- tration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn cited the malaria drug chloroquine, along with remdesivir, an experimental antiviral from Gilead Sciences, and possibly using plasma from survivors of COVID- 19, the disease the new virus causes. Those treatments are among several being tested that might ease symptoms but do not stop the virus from spreading. Potential stopgaps Also on Thursday, Swiss drugmaker Roche said it was working with the U.S. government to start a study of Actemra, a drug used now for rheu- matoid arthritis and some other conditions, against the coronavirus. “We’re looking at drugs that are already approved for other indications” as a potential bridge or stopgap, Hahn said, while also doing rigorous studies to see if the drugs truly make a difference versus usual care, and if they are safe when used for a new purpose. “We want to make sure this is done well and right,” he said. No drug is specifi cally approved now for treating COVID-19. Chloroquine and a sim- ilar drug — hydroxychloro- quine, sold as Plaquenil by French drugmaker Sanofi and in generic form — are available now and can be used off-label in the United States. They may inter- fere with the coronavirus being able to enter cells, and some scientists have reported possible encour- aging signs in test-tube and other small studies. German drugmaker Bayer has said it would donate 3 million tablets of its chloroquine drug, Resochin, for use against coronavirus. That drug was never approved in the U.S., so Bayer is working with federal agencies to get an emergency-use authorization. Chloroquine and remde- sivir are among the drugs the World Health Orga- nization said would be tried in a fi ve-part inter- national study announced Wednesday. Off-label use draws skepticism Already approved drugs are tempting for doctors to use off label, but formal studies are needed to see if they truly work for a new purpose or disease, said Dr. Ross McKinney Jr., chief scientifi c offi cer for the Association of Amer- ican Medical Colleges, which represents about 400 major teaching hospi- tals across the country. Chloroquine may look promising in a test tube, but “I’m skeptical it will be effective” in patients, he said Thursday in a call with reporters. Remdesivir inter- feres with virus reproduc- tion and has shown some promise in lab and animal studies against other coro- naviruses that cause sim- ilar diseases, MERS and SARS. It’s being tested in at least fi ve separate exper- iments, and Gilead also has given it to several hun- dred severely ill patients in the U.S, Europe and Japan under “compassionate use” provisions. That includes three of the fi rst dozen COVID-19 patients in the United States. They recov- ered, but it’s impossible to know whether they would have anyway without the drug. On a podcast Wed- nesday with a medical journal editor, the National Institutes of Health’s Dr. Anthony Fauci said China had enrolled several hun- dred people in its two remdesivir studies but is having trouble recruiting more because many patients just want the drug and are unwilling to take a chance on being randomly assigned to a comparison group that just gets usual care. It would be great if an independent monitoring board could look at results so far and see if there are signs of safety or effective- ness, Fauci said. “We desperately need the data” on this and other drugs being tested in rig- orous scientifi c studies, Fauci said. “We’ve got to be able to determine if they work and if they’re safe.” Apart from the studies in China, Fauci’s agency is running a study of rem- desivir that aims to recruit 400 patients in the U.S. and elsewhere. That study is “adaptive,” meaning it will allow scientists to add other drugs under the same testing umbrella as time goes on. Gilead also has said it will do two studies testing remdesivir treatment for fi ve or 10 days in about 1,000 hospi- talized patients primarily in Asia. Remdesivir “does look like it could be promising,” said Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of infectious diseases at Brigham and Wom- en’s Hospital in Boston. In animal tests, it was “quite effective at preventing infection” and reducing severity of illness and damage to the lungs when given early enough in the course of illness, he said. “It interferes with the enzyme that reproduces the genetic material of the virus” and acts at an ear- lier step than protease inhibitors such as lopinavir and ritonavir, which are used now to treat HIV and also are being tested against the new corona- virus, Kuritzkes explained. developing monoclonal antibodies, proteins that specifi cally fi ght the coro- navirus. Antibodies or combinations of them were tried against Ebola, and doctors think a similar approach may help against the new virus. Finally, some doc- tors have urged collecting plasma from people who have survived COVID-19, because they should have made natural antibodies to the virus that could be given to people to help their immune systems fi ght it off. NIAID-RML via AP This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the virus that causes COVID-19. The sample was isolat- ed from a patient in the U.S. HIV drugs under consideration The HIV drugs gave disappointing results, failing to shorten ill- ness in a study of 199 severely ill hospitalized patients in China, scien- tists from that country reported Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Some other studies testing the HIV drug combo are still underway. The Roche drug, Actemra, is used now for rheumatoid arthritis and some other conditions. It targets interleukin-6, which plays a role in infl ammation. Roche’s U.S. subsidiary, Genen- tech, said Thursday that it was working with the FDA to start a 330-patient study on hospitalized COVID-19 patients in April. Regeneron Pharmaceu- ticals says it will launch a study of Kevzara, its rheu- matoid arthritis drug that also targets interleukin-6, against the coronavirus. A Japanese company, Fujifi lm Toyama Chemical, says tests suggest its drug favipiravir, used to treat the fl u in Japan, shows promise against the coro- navirus, though no large studies of that have been published yet. Other companies are OFFER ENDS March 25th Don't Wait! Call and make your appointment now! Mention Code # 20MarAlzheimer LA GRANDE BAKER CITY ENTERPRISE 111 Elm Street La Grande, OR 97850 2021 Washington Ave. Baker City, OR 97814 113-1/2 Front E. Main St. Enterprise, OR 97828 541-239-3782 541-239-3877 541-605-2109 Hearing tests are always free. Hearing test is an audiometric test to determine proper amplification needs only. Hearing Aids do not restore natural hearing. Individual experiences will vary depending on severity of loss, accuracy of evaluation by our Consultant, proper fit, and the ability to adjust amplification. Pursuant to terms of your purchase agreement, the aids must be returned within 30 days of completion of fitting, in satisfactory condition for a full refund.
