ShaCOVID-19 drug trial could lead to enhanced respiratory care for patientsre

It will test a drug that could raise oxygen levels in the blood in COVID-19 patients in order to improve their chances of recovery. Raising oxygen levels is important in COVID-19, because many patients with the disease die when oxygen levels in their arterial blood fall to levels that are too low to support life. HospitalHealtcareEurope

COVID-19 Drug and Vaccine Pipeline Status Report

Of the 153 drug candidates in development, 10 drug/vaccine candidates advanced to Phase 3 while 13 candidates are in Phase 2. Five candidates are in Phase 1 and 42 candidates are in the preclinical study phase. Further, the number of drug and vaccine candidates in the research study phase stood at 83.BusinessWire 

Israel invents one-minute coronavirus breath test

AN Israeli-designed one-minute breath test to tell whether someone has coronavirus could soon be installed at hundreds of global entry points if it gets approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. The clever contraption, which uses frequency to detect the deadly SARS-CoV-2, was designed by a team based at an Israeli university and has a success rate of more than 90 percent in trials to-date. The Australian Jewish News 

When Testing Positive For The Coronavirus Doesn’t Mean You’re Contagious

Only about 5% of patients with COVID-19 continue to test positive for more than a month, as did Joyce. But a study published this week out of Singapore found that 70% are still positive 15 days after the first sign of COVID-19. That means more than a million U.S. residents who’ve had the coronavirus might still test positive beyond the period when research shows they can infect others.CommonHealth 

Industry Leaders Provide an Update on COVID-19 Vaccine Progress

"The industry has responded in an unprecedented way," said Thomas Cueni, Director General of The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations in a virtual press conference held today. Despite it being only two and a half months since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, over 100 vaccine candidates are at various stages in the biopharmaceutical development pipeline. TechnologyNetwork

How should I clean and store my face mask?

Cloth face masks worn during the coronavirus pandemic should be washed regularly, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public health experts recommend wearing a mask made from cotton fabric, such as T-shirts, or scarves and bandannas, when you are outside and unable to maintain social distancing from others.APNews

Science vs. COVID-19: Vaccine trial wins and other hopeful findings

In the latest installment of our “Hope Behind the Headlines” series, we look at the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials that have been progressing successfully, and at one promising therapeutic approach for COVID-19: Convalescent plasma therapy. MedicalNewsToday 

Clover’s adjuvant choice for Covid-19 an edge, but comparison with IMV’s, Novavax’s vaccines limited

Clover Biopharmaceuticals’ Covid-19 protein subunit vaccine could potentially have the upper hand versus Novavax’s and IMV’s due to the former’s use of Dynavax Technologies’ FDA-approved adjuvant. However, it is premature to predict a clear frontrunner among the three vaccines due to information gaps such as how the spike protein antigen is constructed and reproduction platforms to be used for manufacturing. ClinicalTrialsArena  

Big gene therapy names line up behind experimental Covid-19 vaccine

On Thursday, the Grousbeck center announced a collaboration with Penn to conduct necessary animal tests of the new gene therapy, called AAVCOVID. At the same time, AveXis, the gene therapy unit of the drug giant Novartis, has signed up to manufacture supplies of the experimental vaccine for human clinical trials at no cost. The studies are expected to begin in the second half of this year. STAT 

Maryland's COVID-19 Positivity Rate Drops, 316,797 tested, CVS testing expands

 Governor Larry Hogan announced that the State of Maryland’s COVID-19 positivity rate has dropped to 12.4%, and the state is now up to nearly 100 major testing sites statewide, including 13 new CVS Health drive-thru centers. FoxBaltimore News

Beating Covid-19 will change how new therapies are developed

Three major tools in this effort are modernized regulatory science, digital medicine technologies, and adaptive clinical trial designs. Together, these approaches can dramatically shorten the time and cost needed to generate the essential safety and effectiveness data that regulators need to review and approve new medicines and diagnostics. STATNews

Fujifilm COVID-19 drug research spills into June, dashing hopes of quick approval

Fujifilm Holdings Corp (4901.T) will continue research on into June, Japan’s government said on Tuesday, effectively dashing hopes by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the drug would be approved as a COVID-19 treatment this month. Reuters 

A biotech company tries to retrofit a lung drug to prevent Covid-19’s after effects

There’s only scant data on how many patients who recover from Covid-19 are left with long-term fibrosis, or scarring of the lung. But studies on SARS and MERS, relatives of the novel coronavirus, suggest about 30% of patients had signs of fibrotic lung disease months after recovery. And, considering the novel coronavirus has already infected more than 5 million people worldwide, debilitating lung problems could become a global scourge. STATNews

COVID-19 Virus Found in Stool May Be Infectious

The research is a step toward proving a new route of transmission for the infection. If confirmed by future studies, it would mean that people could get sick by ingesting tiny amounts of stool from others who are infected -- called the fecal-oral route of transmission. Other diarrhea diseases that pass from person to person this way include cholera and hepatitis.WebMD

How to Disinfect Your Laundry When Someone’s Sick

Before you touch a sick person’s laundry, pull on a pair of disposable gloves. Once the clothes and linens are in the washing machine, take the gloves off, put them in the trash, and wash your hands again right away. Wash your hands again and put on a fresh pair before you move the clean items to the dryer or hang them to dry so that you don’t reinfect them.WebMD

Antibodies from llamas may hold cure for novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2

In the paper, published in the journal Cell, the scientists said a fragment found in a four-year-old wooly camelid's antibodies seem to tightly bind to the proteins of the novel coronavirus and neutralize it. This means that the antibodies, also known as nanobodies, can help in the battle against COVID-19, which has sickened more than 3.84 million people. NewsMedical 

University-led COVID19 drug trial expands into home testing

In March, the University of Southampton and drug development company Synairgen began clinical tests of SNG001, a special, inhaled formulation of the naturally occurring antiviral protein interferon beta 1a on patients with COVID-19. This new phase follows receipt of the necessary approvals to expand from the original 100 patients, to include enrolling an additional 120 patients in the home environment. MedicalXpress 

Merck, one of Big Pharma’s biggest players, reveals its COVID-19 vaccine and therapy plans

Merck, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, has been conspicuously absent from the race to develop COVID-19 vaccines and drugs. No longer. The company this morning announced it has cut deals to develop and manufacture two different COVID-19 vaccines and a much-discussed experimental antiviral compound that is already in early clinical trials. ScienceMag

Novavax snares $167M buyout to rapidly scale up COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing

The drugmaker will partner with the Serum Institute of India to scale production at the Praha site by the end of 2020 and will continue to build antigen production at multiple sites in the U.S. and Asia, Novavax said. FiercePharma

Montgomery Co. strikes deal with private lab to provide around one million COVID-19 tests

Montgomery County has reached an agreement with a private laboratory to provide COVID-19 testing for around one million people over the next year, officials confirmed last week. Molecular diagnostics laboratory, AdvaGenix, is now in the process of creating additional lab space and doubling the size of its workforce to around 30 people. The facility is located in a professional suite at 9430 Key West Avenue in Rockville. WJLA

State official: False positive COVID-19 tests very rare; not so with false negatives

“We have not seen any significant reports of false positives,” Chan told the New Hampshire Union Leader. “We don’t think that is likely to happen; it’s not common at all.” Negative test results, on the other hand, can be false about 3% of the time, depending on what test is used, Chan said. UnionLider

Promising pre-clinical results for COVID-19 vaccine

A COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by the University of Saskatchewan's (USask) Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) has cleared another major milestone in moving towards human clinical trials: the novel vaccine has proven highly effective in ferrets, one of the commonly used animal models for COVID-19. MedicalPress

What are the Top 5 most promising COVID-19 vaccine candidates?

Top 5, as of May 26:

1. China’s CanSino adenovirus vaccine currently leads the pack — although there was a notable stumbling block in its May 22 results
2. Oxford University’s adenovirus vaccine candidate has slipped into second place — but Oxford just attracted a $1 billion bet from BARDA
3. Moderna’s much-vaunted mRNA platform reported some early results on May 18 — but can future results live up to the hype for what is an entirely new vaccine technology?
4. Maybe the safest bet is to use the long-proven route of an inactivated virus vaccine — if so, the Chinese company Sinovac is the one to watch
5. Inovio’s May 20 DNA vaccine candidate results looked highly promising: some have said this is a ‘moon shot’ but that has worked before…

What is antibody testing for COVID-19, and how is it useful?

Both the European Union and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in the United States, have now approved certain antibody tests for COVID-19. But what are these tests, and how can they be useful? Read our Special Feature to find out. Medical News Today

A new Covid-19 test is launching that could dramatically increase testing

This test also does not require additional sample preparation steps or commercial reagents from other vendors, which is expected to help reduce competition for raw materials and increase global testing capacity. In addition, to help alleviate shortages of commonly used sample collection swabs, the company has validated its own swab specimen collection kit for delivering patient samples to labs for the testing process. News4AS

2 drugs for Gaucher’s disease also fight COVID-19, Israeli defense lab finds

Defense Ministry-run Institute for Biological Research identifies medications treating the genetic disorder that can be used against viruses; one already has FDA approval. The study on mice found that the medications inhibited the replication of the viruses in the bodies of the infected animals.In addition to being effective against the coronavirus, the treatment was also found to work against three other viruses, Neuroinvasive Sindbis virus, West Nile virus and Influenza A virus, the researchers wrote. The Times of Israel 

Coronavirus doctor's diary: The drug combination that may help us beat Covid-19

Dr John Wright of Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) describes some of the trials under way to find a cure for Covid-19, and suggests that a combination of three different types of drug may hold the key. BBC 

U research shows electroceutical fabric eradicates coronaviruses on contact

A team of researchers at Indiana University has published significant research findings via pre-print in ChemRxiv demonstrating for the first time that coronaviruses are killed upon exposure to an electroceutical fabric. "Electroceutical" refers to a matrix of embedded microcell batteries that creates an electric field and wirelessly generates a low level of electricity in the presence of moisture. News at IU

Pulmonary Vascular Endothelialitis, Thrombosis, and Angiogenesis in Covid-19

Progressive respiratory failure is the primary cause of death in the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. Despite widespread interest in the pathophysiology of the disease, relatively little is known about the associated morphologic and molecular changes in the peripheral lung of patients who die from Covid-19. The New England Journal of Medicine 

The CDC says coronavirus 'does not spread easily' on surfaces or objects. Here's what we know.

Transmission through surfaces is much less likely than other forms of contact, the primary mode being person-to-person contact in an enclosed space for a long period of time, Juthani notes. "If you wash your hands several times a day, particularly after handling objects that others could have touched, the risk of transmission is significantly lower from an already lower risk of transmission event," she said. The CDC points out that while chances aren't high, the risk is still there. "This is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads, but we are still learning more about this virus," the CDC said. Should I still be washing my hands after getting my packages or mail? Yes. USToday 

Operation Warp Speed accelerates AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to be available beginning in October

HHS announced Wednesday that it is working with AstraZeneca to make available at least 300 million doses of an investigational coronavirus vaccine, aiming to deliver the first doses in October. The agreement between the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is part of the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, and AstraZeneca, will accelerate the development and manufacturing of the vaccine candidate, known as AZD1222, to start Phase III clinical studies in the United States this summer.APhA

Can Air Conditioning Spread COVID-19? Here's What Experts Say

It helps to understand a little about droplets—the particles (containing mostly water, but also any pathogens our bodies may be infected with, such as the new coronavirus) that we expel when we breathe, talk, cough and sneeze. A single cough releases about 3,000 droplets, while a single sneeze can release about 30,000, according to a blog post that went viral written by Erin Bromage, a comparative immunologist and professor of biology specializing in immunology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Different actions produce different sizes of droplets, which can travel varying distances. When an AC unit is turned on, air flow from the vent pushes these droplets through the air and potentially into other people. “The air flow direction is what matters,” adds Butte.  Health 

Preventing 'cytokine storm' may ease severe COVID-19 symptoms

For some COVID-19 patients, the body's immune response may be as destructive as the virus that causes the disease. The persistent high fevers, severe respiratory distress, and lung damage seen in some critically ill patients are all signs of an immune system in overdrive. MedicalPress 

Safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of a recombinant adenovirus type-5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine:

The Ad5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine is tolerable and immunogenic at 28 days post-vaccination. Humoral responses against SARS-CoV-2 peaked at day 28 post-vaccination in healthy adults, and rapid specific T-cell responses were noted from day 14 post-vaccination. Our findings suggest that the Ad5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine warrants further investigation. The Lancet 

More evidence emerges on why covid-19 is so much worse than the flu

Researchers who examined the lungs of patients killed by covid-19 found evidence that it attacks the lining of blood vessels there, a critical difference from the lungs of people who died of the flu, according to a report published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Critical parts of the lungs of patients infected by the novel coronavirus also suffered many microscopic blood clots and appeared to respond to the attack by growing tiny new blood vessels, the researchers reported. The Washington Post

CDC estimates that 35% of coronavirus patients don't have symptoms

In new guidance for mathematical modelers and public health officials, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is estimating that about a third of coronavirus infections are asymptomatic.
 The CDC also says its "best estimate" is that 0.4% of people who show symptoms and have Covid-19 will die, and the agency estimates that 40% of coronavirus transmission is occurring before people feel sick.CNN

Coronavirus drugs: how well is the hunt for covid-19 treatments going? Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2244349-coronavirus-drugs-how-well-is-the-hunt-for-covid-19-treatments-going/#ixzz6NBUOgLKi

Several hundred trials of potential treatments for the coronavirus are now underway around the world. Early results suggest a few might slightly reduce the risk of dying from covid-19, but we won’t know for sure until larger trials have been completed. “The good news is that there is a lot of activity,” says Trudie Lang at the University of Oxford. “Sadly, however, we don’t actually have anything that works as yet.” The Scientist 

COVID-19 exposure notification settings begin to go live for iOS users with new update

Apple has released iOS 13.5, which includes support for the Exposure Notification API that it co-created with Google to support public health authorities in their contact-tracing efforts to combat COVID-19. The API requires third-party apps developed by public health authorities for use, and none have yet been released, but iOS device users already have access to COVID-19 Exposure Logging global settings.TechCrunch 

Low-cost rapid COVID test by Irish company gets EU green light

HiberGene Diagnostics, based in Dublin, has received European Union approval for its COVID-19 test. The test has proven highly accurate, low-cost, and deliverable with 30-minutes. It also avoids sending samples to large specialized laboratories. It delivers results that are 96 to 97.5 percent accurate. IrishCentral 

Monkey trials show promising COVID-19 vaccine results

Researchers took the DNA of one of the coronavirus' proteins and inserted it into plasmid DNA vaccines. These vaccines helped the monkeys develop higher levels of antibodies, which lowered the level of the virus following exposure.  Researchers say eight of the monkeys who were exposed to the virus had no detectable trace of it, while the rest had very low levels of it. CBSEveningNews 

U.S. secures 300 million doses of potential AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

The United States has secured almost a third of the first one billion doses planned for AstraZeneca’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine by pledging up to $1.2 billion, as world powers scramble for medicines to get their economies back to work. Reuters 

Stanford Medicine to test drug on less serious COVID-19 cases

Interferon-lambda is a manufactured form of a naturally occurring protein, which, based on laboratory results and animal testing, may help control respiratory diseases such as influenza and SARS. Cell receptors for the drug are located in the linings of the lungs and intestine — the two main organs targeted by COVID-19 — and the liver.SFGate

In race to find a COVID-19 treatment, CEO of tiny biotech company is 'very optimistic'

BerGenBio, a biotechnology company that employs just 38 people based in Bergen, Norway, and Oxford, England, has developed a drug called bemcentinib, which is currently in phase two of clinical trials. Richard Godfrey, the CEO of BerGenBio, told ABC News that he has high hopes that the drug, which was initially developed to treat cancer, will benefit coronavirus patients. abcNews 

Japanese startup to use RNA technology to develop anti-COVID-19 drug

Under an agreement struck between the company and the Fukuoka prefectural government earlier this week, they will aim at developing an inhaled drug that can directly work on the patient's lungs, thus having few side effects. KYODONews

As we wait for a vaccine, here’s a snapshot of potential COVID-19 treatments

Today’s enthusiasm for any drug that seems promising feels familiar, says Woosley. He remembers the excitement over AZT, the first drug used to fight HIV in the 1980s. It wasn’t the best drug to combat the AIDS epidemic, and better ones came later. Likewise, the first treatments for COVID-19 might be better than nothing, but not the best we will ultimately get. ScienceNews 

COVID-19: Drug being tested in China may offer short term immunity to the virus

Team led by Sunney Xie, the director of its Beijing Advanced Innovation Centre for Genomics, has successfully identified multiple highly potent neutralising antibodies against the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the causative virus of the respiratory disease COVID-19 from convalescent plasma [a blood fluid] by high-throughput single-cell sequencing, Peking University in Beijing said on Monday. National Herald 

National trial launched to test re-purposing existing drugs to treat COVID-19 patients

TACTIC, as the trial is known, will test whether re-purposing existing drugs, which target the body's own immune response, can prevent people suffering severe organ failure or death. The trial is part of the coordinated national approach by the UK Government to support the early phase development of potential new treatments for COVID-19. MedicalXpress

Researchers to test blood cancer drug in COVID-19 patients

Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have launched a clinical test of a blood cancer drug in patients infected with the COVID-19 virus. The test follows several case reports in which the drug, ibrutinib, appeared to protect against lung damage and respiratory distress caused by the virus. MedicalXpress 

Pfizer: COVID-19 Vaccine Could Arrive in October

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer plans to expand human clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine and include thousands of people by September, according to CNBC. If the trial goes well and the vaccine is safe, the company will “be able to deliver millions of doses in the October timeframe,” Pfizer CEO and Chairman Albert Bourla said Tuesday. WebMD 

Coronavirus vaccine trials have delivered their first results — but their promise is still unclear

Tests of other fast-tracked vaccines show that they have prevented infections in the lungs of monkeys exposed to SARS-CoV-2 — but not in some other parts of the body. One — a vaccine being developed at the University of Oxford, UK, that is also in human trials — protected six monkeys from pneumonia, but the animals’ noses harboured as much virus as did those of unvaccinated monkeys, researchers reported1 last week in a bioRxiv preprint. A Chinese group reported similar caveats about its own vaccine’s early animal tests this month. Nature

Why do some COVID-19 patients infect many others, whereas most don’t spread the virus at all?

Most of the discussion around the spread of SARS-CoV-2 has concentrated on the average number of new infections caused by each patient. Without social distancing, this reproduction number (R) is about three. But in real life, some people infect many others and others don’t spread the disease at all. In fact, the latter is the norm, Lloyd-Smith says: “The consistent pattern is that the most common number is zero. Most people do not transmit.” Science 

'Particularly potent' antibody found in SARS patients from 17 years ago inhibits COVID-19, study says

As the war against the coronavirus pandemic wages on, a new study has revealed that a person who recovered from SARS 17 years ago has an antibody that inhibits COVID-19. The antibody, known as S309, is "particularly potent" at targeting and disabling the spike protein in SARS-CoV-2, according to a statement from the University of Washington, which was involved in the research. The antibody is now being fast-tracked for development and testing at Vir Biotechnology. FOX News