The solidarity trial has been launched to help develop treatments for Covid-19. The trial will result in current medicines with other licensed indications being used “off label “.
Four potential treatments are :
- Remdesivir
- Chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine
- Lopinivar and Ritonavir
- Lopinavir, Ritonavir and Interferon
The trail will not be double blinded .
Other treatments which have been suggested so fare are:
Chloroquine, which is approved to treat malaria and rheumatoid arthritis, has had limited success in the USA, the evidence is limited. Teva donated more than six million doses or hydroxychloroquine sulphate tablets to hospitals. Some experts say there is not enough evidence to give patients chloroquine outside a clinical trial and that it could actually cause harm.
Remdesivir (works by inhibiting viral replication), Tocilizumab (monoclonal antibody), Favipiravir (anti-viral) Lopinavir and Ritonavir (normally used to treat HIV) .
Clinical trials on a new vaccine have started in Oxford.
Birmingham is recruiting patients who have had the virus into a trail where some of their blood is taken and the plasma is removed from the blood and it is then infused into other infected patients to try to stimulate their own immune response to fight the infection.
There are no statistically proved treatments for the treatment of Covid 19 although the FDA has issued to Gilead an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for emergency use of Remdesivir for the treatment of hospitalized 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients. Gilead has pledged to donate doses of their anti-viral which prevents RNA synthesis and is currently not licensed for any indications.
The race is on and let us hope it can be won before too many more lives are lost and the WHO mantra of “ Trace , Test and Treat “ can become a reality.
Testing will only be effective if everyone follows the rules and they stay at home and self-isolate when they are confirmed as being Covid-19 positive. Everyone must follow the fight.