Coronavirus: Boris Johnson Says Healing Trial Includes British Patient

Boris Johnson revealed today that the first British coronavirus patient is participating in a drug trial in hopes of finding a way to fight the deadly infection.

Researchers around the world are desperately looking for a cure, amid fears that thousands more patients will be stricken with the deadly disease.

The Prime Minister, who also announced that the UK would buy “hundreds of thousands” of antibody kits, did not disclose the drug to the British patient.

This came as the United States announced today that it is accelerating the use of chloroquine, an antimalarial, to treat patients with coronavirus.

President Donald Trump said the drug would be available almost immediately for people with the virus, although it was not officially approved by the FDA.

Access to prescriptions will be expanded so that US health officials can collect patient response data.

The move has increased pressure on the British government after the furious Britons launched a petition yesterday calling for the 10th trial to launch the same drug, which is available over the counter.

Authorities last month banned pharmaceuticals from exporting chloroquine and an HIV drug, to protect UK stocks of treatments.

Boris Johnson revealed today that the first British patient is in a coronavirus cure trial and announced that the UK is planning to purchase ‘hundreds of thousands’ of antibody kits

A petition has been launched to urge the government to start using chloroquine on coronavirus patients after Chinese doctors said it was treating the virus. The drug is available as an antimalarial in travel clinics for just a few cents per pill

Sometimes sold under the brand name Plaquenil, the drug (photo) is generally safe for the treatment of malaria, although side effects like permanent eye damage and even a few rare deaths have been reported. First US clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus started last week

Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street on the growing threat COVID-19 poses to the UK, Johnson said: “ Today we put the first British corona patient in a randomized trial drugs that can treat the disease.

He also revealed that scientists plan to start testing a vaccine in a month, but warned that it would take a long time to be put into use.

Johnson said, “ To give you an idea of ​​what’s coming, we’re negotiating today to buy a so-called antibody test, as simple as a pregnancy test that can tell if you have had the disease and it is at first, but if it works as its proponents claim, we will be buying literally hundreds of thousands of these kits as soon as possible.

“Because obviously, he has the potential to be a total gamechanger.”

Johnson said: “Likewise, we are massively increasing the tests to see if you have them now and increasing the daily tests from 5,000 per day to 10,000 to 25,000 and then to 250,000”.

It came after US President Donald Trump revealed that chloroquine, an antimalarial drug, would quickly be used for treatment against the new coronavirus.

Trump said the drug would be available “almost immediately” to people with the virus who request it from their doctor.

Although the drug has not yet been officially approved by the FDA, access to prescriptions will be expanded so that authorities can collect data on patient response.

This is called “compassionate use”.

Upon learning that other countries were speeding up trials of the drug, the furious Britons launched an online petition calling on NH to do the same.

The Thechange.org petition was titled “Start an immediate UK trial for chloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 (Coronavirus)”.

It reads as follows: “This treatment is readily available, inexpensive to produce and without a patent.

“We must start testing this treatment immediately in patients who have developed pneumonia associated with Covid-19.”

Chloroquine is an antimalarial drug that works by preventing parasites from replicating inside the body and could stop the coronavirus by making the inside of a cell too dangerous for a virus to enter.

Chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine are on a list of drugs that the UK Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has banned companies from purchasing with the intention of exporting them.

Meanwhile, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in the city where the crisis started, said the drug was “very effective” in testing Petri dishes.

Report said Dutch authorities already suggest treating seriously ill patients with the drug, and doctors in South Korea and China both say the drug is an “ effective ” antiviral treatment for the disease, according to a report from American virologists.

The drug is inexpensive, safe and readily available for sale in the UK, as travel medication costs only 3.22 euros at Boots.

Professor Robin May, an infectious disease expert at the University of Birmingham, said: “ Chloroquine is a drug that has a long history of use against malaria, mainly because it spreads through red blood cells, which makes the environment in the cell less suitable for the parasite to live.

President Donald Trump falsely claimed that the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine had been approved by the FDA to treat coronavirus before being corrected by FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn (left), who explained that it would only be prescribed ly for “ compassionate use ”.

“Since it has a long history of clinical use, the safety profile of chloroquine is well established and it is inexpensive and relatively easy to manufacture, so it would theoretically be fairly easy to accelerate in clinical trials and, if successful, ultimately in treatment. ”

Twenty-three clinical trials of the drug are already underway on patients in China, one is planned in the United States and another in South Korea.

Experts from the University of Minnesota plan to test whether the medication sometimes used to treat lupus and arthritis prevents the progression of COVID-19.

A number of other existing drugs are also undergoing clinical trials to see if they could stop the coronavirus.

A combination of HIV medicines called lopinavir / ritonavir has also been banned from export by the MHRA.

This drug, marketed under the brands Kaletra and Aluvia, is essentially capable of sticking to an enzyme on a virus which is vital for the reproduction of the virus.

In doing so, it blocks the process normally used by the virus to clone itself and spread the infection.

In a US clinical trial request from Asan Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea, scientists said, “In vitro [laboratory] studies have found that lopinavir / ritonavir [has] antiviral activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). “

Chinese media have reported that the drug has been used successfully to treat patients with coronavirus, but the reports have not been scientifically proven.

Other drugs with proven but unproven benefits for patients with coronaviruses include favipiravir, an influenza drug; remdesivir, a drug created to try to fight Ebola; and sarilumab, which calms the immune system of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

The successful discovery of a coronavirus treatment or vaccine may be what is needed for countries to return to normal life.

Influenza, antimalarial, arthritis and HIV drugs: promising therapies tested on coronavirus patients worldwide

Chloroquine phosphate (malaria)

One drug used by doctors to fight the coronavirus epidemic is chloroquine phosphate, an antimalarial drug.

The drug sold under the brand name Arlan kills malaria parasites in the blood, thereby stopping tropical disease.

But tests of the drug used for 70 years on COVID-19 patients in China show that it has potential in the fight against the deadly virus.

One drug used by doctors to fight the coronavirus epidemic is chloroquine phosphate, an antimalarial drug. It is sold under the Arlan brand

Chinese authorities have claimed that the drug “has demonstrated acceptable efficacy and safety in the treatment of pneumonia associated with COVID-19”.

Experts from the University of Palermo in Italy, as well as a team in Israel, have gathered research on the drug for the treatment of coronavirus.

In their report, they claimed that the Dutch authorities already suggest treating the critically ill patients with the drug.

South Korea and China both claim the drug is an “effective” antiviral treatment for the disease, according to a report by American virologists.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology, in the city where the crisis started, said the drug was “very effective” in testing Petri dishes.

Tests by these researchers, as well as others, have shown that it has the power to stop replication of the virus in cells and take hold in the body.

Twenty-three clinical trials of the drug are already underway in patients in China, and one is planned in the United States and another in South Korea.

Experts from the University of Minnesota plan to test whether the medication sometimes used to treat lupus and arthritis prevents the progression of COVID-19.

Chloroquine was prescribed approximately 46,000 times in 2018 in the UK, but it is also available over the counter in pharmacies without a prescription.

Professor Robin May, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Birmingham, said the drug’s safety profile was “well established”.

He added: “It is cheap and relatively easy to manufacture, so it would be fairly easy to speed up in clinical trials and, if successful, possibly in treatment.”

Professor May suggested that chloroquine could work by changing the acidity of the area of ​​cells it attacks, making it more difficult for virus to replicate.

Hydroxychloroquine (malaria)

Chinese scientists investigating the other form of chloroquine wrote a letter to a prestigious newspaper saying that its “less toxic” derivative could also help.

Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil, can treat COVID-19

In the comment from Cell Discovery belonging to the editor Nature, they said that it shares similar chemical structures and mechanisms.

The team of experts added: “It is easy to raise the idea that hydroxychloroquine may be a powerful candidate for treating SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

But scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology admitted they still lacked evidence to prove it is as effective as chloroquine phosphate.

Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil, causes side effects such as rashes, nausea, diarrhea and headaches.

The pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has carried out a study on 24 patients, which the French government has described as “promising”.

The results showed that three-quarters of patients treated with the drug were cleared of the virus within six days. None of the placebo groups were treated.

French health officials are now considering a larger trial of the drug, which is used on the NHS to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis as well as malaria.

Lopinavir / ritonavir (HIV)

Lopinavir / ritonavir, marketed as Kaletra and Aluvia, is an anti-HIV drug given to people living with the virus to prevent it from turning into AIDS.

Lopinavir / ritonavir, marketed under the brands Kaletra and Aluvia, is an anti-HIV drug

The drug has shown promise as a way to fight the coronavirus, scientists say, because it is able to bind to the outside of the coronavirus.

This is a class of drugs called protease inhibitors, which essentially adhere to a virus enzyme that is vital for the reproduction of the virus. In doing so, it blocks the process normally used by the virus to clone itself and spread the infection.

In a US clinical trial request from Asan Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea, scientists said, “In vitro [laboratory] studies have found that lopinavir / ritonavir [has] antiviral activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). “

Chinese media have reported that the drug has been used successfully to treat patients with coronavirus, but the reports have not been scientifically proven.

US manufacturer AbbVie has donated free supplies of Kaletra to health authorities in China, the United States and Europe, it is unclear whether the United Kingdom is included.

The drug is available on the NHS and was prescribed approximately 1,400 times in 2018, in the form of Kaletra or ritonavir alone.

Favipiravir (flu)

Favipiravir is the active ingredient in an influenza medicine called Avigan, sold in Japan.

Doctors in China said it was “clearly effective” in patients with coronavirus after giving it to 80 people in the cities of Wuhan and Shenzen.

Favipiravir is the active ingredient in an influenza medicine called Avigan, sold in Japan.

They said it speeds up patient recovery, reduces lung damage, and has no obvious side effects. It is also used to treat yellow fever and foot and mouth disease.

According to local media reports, patients who received the drug in Shenzhen had negative results for the coronavirus on average four days after being diagnosed.

This compares to 11 days for those who have not been treated with the drug. It is not clear what the results of the tests in Wuhan, the most affected part of China, were.

The drug is an antiviral medication that neutralizes a vital enzyme that viruses use to reproduce. It is an RNA polymerase inhibitor.

It is not used by the NHS. It is produced by the Japanese company Fujifilm Toyama Chemical.

Remdesivir (Ebola)

Remdesivir is an antiviral medication that works essentially the same as favipiravir by paralyzing the RNA polymerase enzyme, preventing a virus from reproducing.

It was developed a decade ago by the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences with the aim of destroying the Ebola virus. However, it was ruled out when other better candidates emerged.

Remdesivir is an antiviral medication that works essentially the same as favipiravir by paralyzing the RNA polymerase enzyme, preventing a virus from reproducing.

But it remained an antiviral drug capable of destroying various viruses in laboratory tests, scientists said. Doctors in the United States have tried it on three patients hospitalized for a coronavirus, but the results have been mixed.

The drug is currently being tested on coronavirus patients in China and the University of Nebraska, reports CNN.

Doctors write in Wuhan Institute of Virology study published in prestigious scientific journal Nature last month said, “Our results show that remdesivir [is] very effective in controlling 2019-nCoV infection in vitro. “

They added that since the drug has been shown to be safe for humans, it “should be evaluated in human patients with the new coronavirus disease”.

Remdesivir is not prescribed on the NHS.

Sarilumab (rheumatoid arthritis)

Sarilumab, a rheumatoid arthritis drug that is marketed as Kevzara in the United States, should be tested on patients in the United States.

Sarilumab, a rheumatoid arthritis drug that is marketed as Kevzara and that is available for prescription on the NHS, should be tested on patients in the United States.

Pharmaceutical companies Sanofi and Regeneron plan to give the drug to people with the coronavirus to see if it can help calm their immune response.

The drug works by blocking part of the immune system that can cause inflammation or swelling, which is overactive in people with rheumatoid arthritis.

Inflammation is the body’s natural response to infection but, in patients with coronaviruses, it can get out of control, greatly worsening symptoms and even causing multiple organ failure.

Regeneron, who makes the drug, said Chinese doctors said it worked for their patients, the Financial Times reported. He said the drug could provide “temporary support” by reducing the severity of patients’ symptoms to help hospitals cope.

John Reed of Sanofi told the FT: “We plan to quickly launch trials outside the United States in the coming weeks, including in areas most affected by the pandemic such as Italy.”