Dozens of drugs are being tested for the emerging coronavirus, SARS Cove 2, which causes Covid-19, and about 100 vaccines are under way. Whether it comes to finding or preventing Covid-19 treatment, experiments are progressing at a fast pace, although the world is still awaiting discovery that will turn the disease around.
Here we provide comprehensive evidence on the latest research findings in this regard:
Medicines: hope and expectation
1- Dexamethasone ... reduce mortality
This steroid is inexpensive and available, and it is currently the only drug that appears to improve survival chances in ARV patients.
However, the results obtained only apply to dangerous cases, and they are those who need ventilator and to a lesser degree get oxygen.
In the first group, dexamethasone reduces the death rate by one third, according to the preliminary results of the British clinical trial (on humans) "Recovery".
The results were announced last Monday, but have not yet been published in a scientific journal. Meanwhile, the British government has announced that the drug will be used immediately to treat patients concerned.
Dexamethasone is already used in many cases due to its strong effect as an anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant.
2- Remdiscovery ... modest effectiveness
The United States is promoting this antiviral drug, which was officially announced at the end of April to shorten the patient’s recovery period.
This was confirmed by research published late May in the New England Journal of Medicine. However, the drug has not proven to be very effective, as it reduces the average time hospital patients need to recover from 15 to 11 days on average, but its benefits in terms of reducing mortality have not been established.
RimDESIVER is approved for emergency use in United States hospitals and then in Japan. Europe is currently studying a request for permission to market it.
It was originally made by the American Glade Laboratory against Ebola haemorrhagic fever, but it has not been found to be helpful.
3- Hydroxychloroquine ... a long debate
It was promoted by US President Donald Trump and the controversial French researcher Didier Raoul, but the medicine was not up to the hopes placed on him, on the contrary.
In early June, a UK study, "Recovery", concluded that hydroxychloroquine had no beneficial effect in treating Covid-19.
This led US health authorities last Monday to withdraw the license to use hydroxychloroquine to treat the disease, as well as a drug closely related to it, chloroquine.
The World Health Organization also announced last Wednesday that it had stopped clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19.
In some countries, the drug is used to treat malaria or autoimmune diseases, and has been at the center of a long controversy with political aspects since the outbreak began.
There was an academic scandal, and in early June the prestigious The Lancet magazine had to withdraw a critical study of hydroxy chloroquine, which was marred by strong suspicions of fraud.
This scandal has delighted supporters of hydroxychloroquine despite evidence accumulating that it is ineffective against the Coronavirus.
4- Other medicines
In addition to the above, there are many other drugs under trial. In all, more than a thousand clinical trials are underway on dozens of drugs worldwide, according to the Lancet database.
Among the main possible treatments: combining two anti-HIV drugs, lopinavir and ritonavir (alone or in combination with other antivirals) and plasma transfer from the blood of people who have been cured to patients, or chlorpromazine (an antipsychotic) or tocilizumab (which can fight the phenomenon Inflammation is responsible for the most serious cases).
Despite the competitive race, none of these paths has yet proven to be critical, especially since it appears to be an illusion to believe that there is a drug that can perform miracles. Most professionals believe that the key will not be in one part but rather a mixture of several drugs from different families, in order to benefit from their combined effects.
Vaccines .. an accelerating race
The vaccine is a preparation that is given to form immunity in the body against a specific disease, and it consists of disease germs that have been killed or weakened, and when entering the body it stimulates the immune system to form antibodies to a specific disease and immune memory, so that the immune system remembers the pathogen's microbe and attacks and eliminates it immediately when it enters The body the next time.
On June 16, the World Health Organization counted 11 clinical trials of a similar number of candidate vaccines worldwide. Five of the trials are being conducted in humans in China, which witnessed the emergence of the emerging corona virus. Only partial results have been published to date, some of which have been described as "encouraging".
Among the most advanced research projects, the European project being conducted by Oxford University in cooperation with AstraZeneca, the Chinese project by the Military Academy of Medical Sciences and the Chinese medicine company Cansinopio.
In addition to the trials that have already begun, WHO counted 128 candidate vaccine projects in the pre-clinical phase, i.e. human trials.
The London College of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has counted at least 194 vaccine projects being developed, including 17 in the clinical trials phase.
Different approaches
WHO categorizes about 100 projects in eight different categories, corresponding to proven or experimental vaccine types. They are “live attenuated” or “inactive” vaccines and are called “sub-unit” vaccines that contain proteins (provide an antigen to which the immune system responds, without viral particles).
There are also vaccine projects using a "viral vector" that adopt advanced virus manufacturing techniques, the sole purpose of which is to obtain an immune response in humans.
There are vaccines based on DNA or RNA experimental products that use parts of the modified genetic material.
when?
The European Medicines Agency estimated in mid-May that the vaccine could be ready within a year, according to an "optimistic" scenario.
But most optimists are betting at the end of this year to face a possible second wave of the epidemic that could hit the northern hemisphere next winter.
As part of its so-called "missile speed" (WorldSpeed) operation, the US government hopes to provide 300 million doses of vaccine by January 2021 (roughly equivalent to the American population) by funding and supporting research laboratories.
In China, the state-owned pharmaceutical company, Cinopharm, which is currently preparing candidate vaccines, hopes to market the vaccine in late 2020 and early 2021.
In Europe, where many projects are also being implemented, it is hoped that a vaccine will be successfully developed by the end of this year.
Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands have signed an agreement with the drug group AstraZeneca to ensure the European Union is provided with 300 million doses of a possible vaccine.
At any price?
Pharmaceutical industry groups have repeatedly said they plan to make their vaccines available at affordable prices, or even at cost.
AstraZeneca committed to "not achieving profits from this vaccine," according to its French President Olivier Nataf, to be offered at a price of approximately two euros (about $ 2.24).
Who will get the vaccine?
The United States has announced its intention to prioritize future vaccination campaigns for the elderly and citizens with a medical history and so-called basic workers. The government says it will also depend on the results of the clinical trials.