> <i>Pfizer is keeping schtum about the detail of the lab tests it has completed but says it has demonstrated “potent in vitro antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2”, as well as activity against other coronaviruses, raising the prospect of a cure for the common cold as well as future pandemic threats.</i><p>I have wondered if the COVID-19 pandemic might lead to some results, like extermination of the common cold, that humans would look back on and say that it was a net benefit. Something along the lines of, "yes, 4 million people died, but in fighting COVID-19 we created highly-effective therapeutics for the flu and common cold. Over the following 10 years, these inventions saved 4 million lives and saved 15 million days of lost work/school".<p>It's hard to think about these things as we are going through the pandemic, but hopefully there will be some good that comes of it. (Of course, it's also possible that by thinking we've 'cured' the common cold, we will open ourselves up to a once-a-century pandemic, where millions are wiped out by what used to just be a common cold.)
Awesome! They should totally go all out investigating this.<p>The rest of us should totally not get too excited. Many drugs go into phase 1. Few come out. There are more phases after that. Tamiflu got through all of that and still hasn't been a game-changer for something that kills tens of thousands in the U.S.A. alone every year.<p>But, hey, you have to take a lot of shots on goal before you get one, so I'm glad they're going after it with a sense of urgency.
This SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor is the latest scientific overlap of COVID and HIV -- I am so hopeful that cross pollination will (continue to) lead to breakthroughs for both diseases.
Actual title: "Pfizer is testing a pill that, if successful, could become first-ever home cure for COVID-19" - Edited down as best as I could to fit the length.
This article is a syndicated copy. This is the source: <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/revealed-home-cure-covid-could-available-year/" rel="nofollow">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-diseas...</a>
Do drug R&D departments do off the books clandestine testing of compounds to screen them before moving onto the official testing steps?<p>With the expense of testing being so huge, it seems like there would be huge economic incentive to be able to fail fast.<p>I wonder what percentage of pharma researchers are bold (and unmonitored) enough to test their creations on themselves - based on the chemists I've met, it almost certainly must be nonzero...
> The trial is split into three phases and will run for 145 days, with another 28 days added for “screening and dosing”. For all participants, there will be several overnight stays.<p>Let's not get too excited...
Gargling and snorting mouthwash until this is ready.
<a href="https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/222/8/1289/5878067" rel="nofollow">https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/222/8/1289/5878067</a>
FWIW, a recent clinical trial appeared to show that nitrous oxide is an effective treatment for Covid-19: <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210315005197/en/UK-Clinical-Trial-Confirms-SaNOtize" rel="nofollow">https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210315005197/en/UK-...</a><p>Would be pretty cool if we had a pill that was, say, 20% more effective and 300 times more expensive.
The March 23 press release <i>Pfizer Initiates Phase 1 Study of Novel Oral Antiviral Therapeutic Agent Against SARS-CoV-2</i><p><a href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-initiates-phase-1-study-novel-oral-antiviral" rel="nofollow">https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-deta...</a>
> Pfizer is keeping schtum about the detail of the lab tests<p>I love journalism because I often learn new words to improve my communication at work. “Keeping schtum” is not an idiom I’ve ever heard before but I will certainly consider using it with my colleagues.
Well, if it inhibits, it needs to be renewed at the same rate it is consumed to maintain the inhibition. Thus a saturation dose(freezes ALL that protease inhibition needs to be administered.) The body will degrade/metabolise/excrete this protease = an effective half life.
The body's adaptive immune system will also increase to block various aspects of the ways and means the virus uses to reproduce = might block the protease or might stop it being made. In any event this will be a good adjunct to a vaccine to freeze the virus in t's tracks until it can be killed.
This one is also promising:
<a href="https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/debiopharm-begins-alisporivir-france/" rel="nofollow">https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/debiopharm-begins-a...</a>
as an aside it is also potent against hepatite C and Myopathies (related to collagen VI)
There is a video Ad popup or something that keeps appearing after I hit close, how do they expect a user will read the article with an annoying and distracting video next to it? Awful UX.
"clean-living adults"<p>A phrase I was totally unfamiliar with, and not really sure of what it means in context. Non recreational drug users? Non-McDonalds eaters? Only eats nonGMO, organic foods? Bathes regularly?
> <i>Every detail has been specified in advance. In Phase 3, for example, a high-fat breakfast is defined as: “2 eggs fried in butter, 2 strips of pork bacon, 2 slices of toast with butter, 4 oz. of hash brown potatoes, and 8 oz. of whole milk… eaten in 20 minutes”.</i><p>Quite some details! Presumably this part of the testing is to see if large amounts of fat shouldn't be consumed along with the pill.
blows my mind to see nearly every single comment here being overtly positive—bordering on <i>unconditional reverence</i>—with regards to this massive pharmaceutical corporation. apparently we just trust <i>everything</i> they say these days? skepticism is just off-limits for these guys? when did this happen?
Is Pfizer taking advantage the emergency declaration to fast-track this pill? If yes, we need to be wary.<p>Remember, there's no value to Pfizer to cure things like the common cold.
Ever have one of those experiences in life where you write people off as "conspiracy nuts" until you have to deal with the issue yourself so in desperation you try their crazy?<p>Well there's no way to convince the disbelievers but Ivermectin is already a cure for covid, weak and imperfect but it definitely does something. I know and believe only because it personally saved me from death's door.<p>Don't try mentioning this on twitter or facebook though, you'll get your account blocked/banned.<p>Funding for a more targeted and powerful cure definitely should happen but there is something really really weird in life when you see something being buried that you know is different than the official stroy.<p>Doesn't help that every quack is coming out of the woodwork to try to cash in on it somehow, not by profit from the drug itself but their only 15 minutes of "fame". But there has to be someway to fix that signal-to-noise ratio when it comes to saving people's lives.
it turns out hcq is actually quite effective, shame it got culture-war'd: <a href="https://c19hcq.com/" rel="nofollow">https://c19hcq.com/</a>