HIV Drug Is Reportedly Showing Signs Of Successfully Treating COVID-19 Patients
#Socialites, get into this! As experts and companies across the country scramble around to come up with a treatment or vaccine for the coronavirus, an existing drug that is used to treat HIV and cancer patients has reportedly shown success in treating some of the most severe COVID-19 patients.
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According to local news station KIRO7, the drug called leronlimab, which comes in a vial and is a two-shot-per-week dose over two weeks — just got cleared by the FDA to start a phase 2 clinical trial. It’s been said that much of the work behind the drug is happening right in Washington State.
As the news site notes, it’s manufactured by a company in Bothell, AGC Biologics, which makes a special molecule that’s the key ingredient in the drug. After scientists at CytoDyn figured out that it could possibly work towards treating COVID-19, it was recently given to several severely sick patients who later showed some sort of improvement.
The local news site reports that it’s currently being tried on 10 of the most critically ill COVID-19 patients at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, the University Hospital for Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
“The first four patients who were intubated, two were extubated. One of them self-extubated, and became alert,” said Nader Pourhassan, the CEO of CytoDyn.
Now the two patients are out of the ICU, the new site notes. Pourhassan said when he heard the results, he became very emotional, “And cried for about five minutes. It was very, very emotional,” he explained.
“All eight patients we’ve analyzed so far — the first eight patients — saw immunological benefits. The FDA immediately allowed us to have a phase two randomized trial. We are initiating that today,” Pourhassan said on Friday.
The drug leronlimab is said to boost the immune system and calms the acute inflammation in the lungs that prevents people from breathing, KIRO7 reports.
“We’re hoping we can save millions of lives,” Pourhassan said.
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