Why do Covid-19 patients die? Their immune systems overreact to the virus with a "cytokine storm" that inflames their lungs so badly that respiration ceases.
So health experts are hopeful that a drug that counters cytokine storms and promotes healthy immune responses will greatly reduce the need for respirators and improve Covid-19 survival rates. A second drug used to treat severe asthma is also being eyed as a means of reducing build-ups of suffocating mucus.
In 2014, Scripps Research Institute reported that certain strains of influenza would kick off these "storms" -- overproductions of immune cells and their activating compounds, or cytokines -- and drastically heighten likelihood of death. "The resulting lung inflammation and fluid buildup can lead to respiratory distress and can be contaminated by a secondary bacterial pneumonia -- often enhancing the mortality in patients," the institute said.
The same syndrome is felling many hospitalized Covid-19 patients, according to Dr. Marc Siegel, a media consultant who writes about pandemics.
Siegel said that a drug used for HIV/AIDS called leronlimab and another used for severe asthma known as NAC both showed promise. Siegel added that hydroxochloroquine, which has received emergency Food and Drug Administration approval for Covid-19, has had a number of good reports, but that medics suspect it may be better used as a preventive or to curb the virus in low-symptom people. It has been reported that health care workers are being issued hydroxochloroquine as a preventive.
Britain's Daily Mail broke the leronlimab story.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8161973/Two-COVID-29-patients-taken-ventilators-days-experimental-treatment.html
In a New York City area hospital, seven patients with severe Covid-19 were treated with leronlimab, according to a Vancouver, Wash., biotech company. Two were taken off respirators and removed from intensive care, with four others showing substantial improvement, according to the company, CytoDyn Inc. The first four patients to receive the drug got better within three days, with their immune systems showing improvement, the firm said.
Tests showed that after three days of therapy "the immune profile in these patients approached normal levels and the levels of cytokines involved in the cytokine storm were much improved,” the company said.
Jacob Lalezari, M.D., a CytoDyn executive, commented, “These preliminary results give hope that leronlimab may help hospitalized patients with Covid-19 recover from the pulmonary inflammation that drives mortality and the need for ventilators."
The immune control drug might also be used in concert with NAC -- or n-acetylcystine. NAC has been studied for severe asthma because it breaks up mucus, which is believed to be a factor in severe attacks. It is hoped that NAC will reduce the mucus buildup that accompanies Covid-19 pneumonia, Siegel said.
Heparin, an anticoagulant, is also being used in Covid-19 patients to counter inflammation, it has been reported.
The Daily Mail account of the NAC-heparin treatment:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8167849/Doctor-claims-combination-drugs-prevent-coronavirus-patients-needing-ventilators.html
Siegel spoke on Tucker Carlson Tonight
So health experts are hopeful that a drug that counters cytokine storms and promotes healthy immune responses will greatly reduce the need for respirators and improve Covid-19 survival rates. A second drug used to treat severe asthma is also being eyed as a means of reducing build-ups of suffocating mucus.
In 2014, Scripps Research Institute reported that certain strains of influenza would kick off these "storms" -- overproductions of immune cells and their activating compounds, or cytokines -- and drastically heighten likelihood of death. "The resulting lung inflammation and fluid buildup can lead to respiratory distress and can be contaminated by a secondary bacterial pneumonia -- often enhancing the mortality in patients," the institute said.
The same syndrome is felling many hospitalized Covid-19 patients, according to Dr. Marc Siegel, a media consultant who writes about pandemics.
Siegel said that a drug used for HIV/AIDS called leronlimab and another used for severe asthma known as NAC both showed promise. Siegel added that hydroxochloroquine, which has received emergency Food and Drug Administration approval for Covid-19, has had a number of good reports, but that medics suspect it may be better used as a preventive or to curb the virus in low-symptom people. It has been reported that health care workers are being issued hydroxochloroquine as a preventive.
Britain's Daily Mail broke the leronlimab story.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8161973/Two-COVID-29-patients-taken-ventilators-days-experimental-treatment.html
In a New York City area hospital, seven patients with severe Covid-19 were treated with leronlimab, according to a Vancouver, Wash., biotech company. Two were taken off respirators and removed from intensive care, with four others showing substantial improvement, according to the company, CytoDyn Inc. The first four patients to receive the drug got better within three days, with their immune systems showing improvement, the firm said.
Tests showed that after three days of therapy "the immune profile in these patients approached normal levels and the levels of cytokines involved in the cytokine storm were much improved,” the company said.
Jacob Lalezari, M.D., a CytoDyn executive, commented, “These preliminary results give hope that leronlimab may help hospitalized patients with Covid-19 recover from the pulmonary inflammation that drives mortality and the need for ventilators."
The immune control drug might also be used in concert with NAC -- or n-acetylcystine. NAC has been studied for severe asthma because it breaks up mucus, which is believed to be a factor in severe attacks. It is hoped that NAC will reduce the mucus buildup that accompanies Covid-19 pneumonia, Siegel said.
Heparin, an anticoagulant, is also being used in Covid-19 patients to counter inflammation, it has been reported.
The Daily Mail account of the NAC-heparin treatment:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8167849/Doctor-claims-combination-drugs-prevent-coronavirus-patients-needing-ventilators.html
Siegel spoke on Tucker Carlson Tonight
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