Loading ...HIV drug leronlimab, which successfully treats coronavirus, moving to phase 2 trials
An experimental HIV drug that has been used to successfully treat COVID-19 patients is in its second phase of testing with the Food and Drug Administration and could potentially be approved for use in four weeks, its manufacturer says.
Leronlimab, made by the biotech company CytoDyn, was used to treat a handful of severely ill patients in New York City hospitals; a couple were able to be removed from their ventilators.
“I think the FDA will be willing to work with us,” CytoDyn CEO Nader Pourhassan told The Post. “I am hoping it will be expedited … I don’t see how the FDA couldn’t approve it.”
“With a study in China indicating the mortality rate among COVID-19 patients requiring mechanical ventilators at more than 85 percent, the world desperately needs a therapy that can help this patient population,” Pourhassan added.
Initial studies suggest leronlimab can reduce the overactive immune response, known as a cytokine storm, that can be triggered by the coronavirus infection. Cytokine storms can result in pneumonia and even death.
“[I] cried for about five minutes. It was very, very emotional,” Pourhassan told Seattle’s KIRO 7 News after first learning of the results. “We’re hoping we can save millions of lives.”
Top biologist to Fox News host: Unproven drug treatment hyped by Trump is ‘complete and utter nonsense’
Dr. William Haseltine, a biologist renowned for his work in confronting the HIV/AIDS epidemic, fighting anthrax and advancing our knowledge of the human genome, told Fox News on Monday that an unproven drug treatment for the new coronavirus hyped by President Donald Trump was a “quack cure.””It’s sad to me that people are promoting that drug. We know already from studies at best it will have a very mild effect — at very best,” Haseltine told Fox News host Dana Perino about hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that Trump has repeatedly promoted against the advice given by Dr. Anthony Fauci.
After reviewing how previous studies show the drug to either have no effect or only a “very mild” one, Haseltine said “the thing that makes me sad about that story is some people may take it who are on other medications or have other underlying conditions and may have very serious — even life threatening — consequences. It is not something to take unless a doctor prescribes it.”
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After reviewing how previous studies show the drug to either have no effect or only a “very mild” one, Haseltine said “the thing that makes me sad about that story is some people may take it who are on other medications or have other underlying conditions and may have very serious — even life threatening — consequences. It is not something to take unless a doctor prescribes it.”
Perino then asked Haseltine about “stories of people saying that they’ve had this Lazarus effect by using this drug,” an apparent reference to a claim made by her Fox News colleague Laura Ingraham.
Haseltine replied, “That is nonsense — complete and utter nonsense. And, in any situation, there are always going to be people who promote one kind of quack cure or another, and there are Lazarus effects. In every epidemic I’ve ever looked at, it’s always the case.”
Thanks Steins1.
My daughter was to be on this drug for arthritis and it can have very serious side effects in many people.
You need to be tested for a certain gene before it is used apparently.
She was tested and deemed not a candidate for this reason.
Quack Quack Quack.
Only in the Good old USA are there Republidrugs and Demodrugs
🙂
Anyhow why take an untested malaria drug when a red apple a day keeps the doctor away !
🙂
Yes, the side effects can be so bad it kills you.
There is some mild relief from the virus, but so would downing a 5th of vodka a day….Or and hour depending on your tolerance! 🙂