Nuked Anthony Fauci noted that a covid-19 vaccine is n’t the only way to protect someone from a life-threatening virus.
Most ongoing research studies are focused on finding treatments for people who are already sick with covid-19. Some researchers are looking to see if they can stop people at high risk from getting sick in the first place.
Preventive drugs have been used for decades to help people protect themselves against malaria. There’s no effective vaccine against HIV, but people can take a daily medication that reduces their risk of contracting it through sexual activity by 99 percent.
‘we have an incredibly powerful tool that can, for myself personally, protect me from HIV,’ says James krellenstein, co-founder of the prep4all collaboration.
krellenstein published a report this week outlining clinical trials to find drugs that can prevent covid-19. In theory, a drug could be even more effective if it’s already in the body when the first virus appears.
hydroxychloroquine can stop the coronavirus from replicating in a test tube. The drug has been the subject of a lot of controversy and has n’t been able to effectively treat people who are already sick and hospitalized.
pre-exposure prophylaxis trial for high risk healthcare workers and first responders anywhere in the US (and parts of Canada soon soon soon).
The majority of clinical trials looking at preventive drugs now are testing hydroxychloroquine. krellenstein argues that research into prophylactics needs to cast a wider net and look at other candidates.
Researchers are testing to see if convalescent plasma, the antibody-rich blood of covid-19 survivors, could be protective. A trial testing how well it protects people who have been exposed to the novel coronavirus from becoming sick will start next week.
‘you could imagine everyone in the White House could get this, people at high risk,’ says David Sullivan, professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins malaria research institute.’it’s a way for those critical people to get immediate immunity,’ he says.
The trial will test if the plasma confers protection, and if it does, how long it might last.’we think that this is one of the essential steps to returning us to a functioning society, but we have to demonstrate that it works’.
Pharmaceutical companies are trying to identify the antibodies that are most effective at blocking the novel coronavirus. They’d be able to produce a more targeted cocktail of virus-blocking substances than plasma, which is a general mix of all the antibodies a sick person’s body creates.
Both plasma and antibodies typically require IV infusions. The logistics of providing them to people at risk of contracting covid-19 is difficult. hydroxychloroquine is a pill, so it’s easier for people to take, but may have to be taken daily.
Sullivan thinks that the limitations are n’t insurmountable. Identifying drugs that can protect people from the novel coronavirus is a critical step toward controlling the pandemic, he says.
The best way to help people is to keep them from getting sick in the first place. It could also help them feel safer leaving the house.
