Researchers are working on a testing system that would require a simple exhaled breath. Such a test would serve as an alternative to current tests that are expensive, can take a long time to get results, and require specialized personnel to do the sampling and to analyze the results. According to the scientist leading this work, “Breath analysis is not really a technique that is used widely in the medical field yet, so it is considered early-stage work. We have developed a sensor device that detects nitric oxide and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) in breath and can be used to…
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SUMMARY: NPR reports more than 8 in 10 supported aggressive new measures by the federal government, including expanded testing are needed. The author suggests we have relied on poorly coordinated efforts among 50 states and thousands of local jurisdictions to solve a national problem. “The United States is not currently on course to get control of this epidemic,” said a Johns Hopkins University report. “It is time to reset.”. The writer suggests testing every American once a week for four weeks. There’s a model for this idea. In March, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT converted its lab into a…
Opinion in the Wall Street Journal describes a Covid-19 therapy using “medicinal signaling cells,” or MSCs, which are found on blood vessels throughout the body. These cells eliminate the virus, calm the immune overreaction known as a cytokine storm, and repair damaged lung tissue. According to the author who is a co-founder of a company in this space, this combination is offered by no other drug, making this a regenerative medicine that could be as revolutionary as Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine. NOTE: Share price of Osiris (the company developing this technology) rose dramatically after this article appeared, moving from .03…
A common drug, already approved by the FDA, may also be a powerful tool in fighting COVID-19, according to research published this week. Heparin could be used as a decoy to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from infecting human cells. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, uses a surface spike protein to latch onto human cells and initiate infection. But heparin, a blood thinner also available in non-anticoagulant varieties, binds tightly with the surface spike protein, potentially blocking the infection from happening. This makes it a decoy, which might be introduced into the body using a nasal spray or nebulizer and run interference…
A new SARS-CoV-2-specific serology assay, using a rapid gel agglutination assay, has been designed and analysis shows that the tests can provide serological results for SARS-CoV-2 infection within 30 min, using an approach consistent with blood typing assays used routinely in hospital labs around the world. While large-scale efforts are underway to develop vaccines and antiviral therapies, the rapid development and deployment of diagnostic tests is of key importance. As we learn more about the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, recent reports suggest that IgG and IgM antibodies are produced either sequentially or simultaneously, with concentrations reaching a plateau 6 days…
The U.S. has agreed to pay Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE nearly $2 billion to secure 100 million doses of their experimental Covid-19 vaccine to provide to all Americans free of charge. Under the $1.95 billion agreement, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Defense Department will receive 100 million doses of the vaccine should it be cleared by regulators, and can also acquire an additional 500 million doses. The U.S. has already made other agreements including a $1.2 billion deal with AstraZeneca PLC for at least 300 million doses of a vaccine developed by University of Oxford.…
Transcript of discussion between NIH’s Dr. Bruce Tromberg and Dr. Frances Collins on NIH efforts to develop rapid COVID-19 test using a “RADx” a venture capitalist “shark tank” strategy to discover and fund in bold ideas with hopes of commercial tests on market by September. In the United States, where there are approximately 400,000 to 900,000 novel COVID-19 tests per day, most testing is still being done in laboratories or complex facilities, where it takes a while for those tests to be processed and for people to get results. The National Institute of Health’s Dr. Frances Collins and Dr. Bruce Tromberg come…
In the May 27 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, Dr. Harvey A. Risch concluded that Early Outpatient Treatment of Symptomatic, High-Risk Covid-19 Patients that Should be Ramped-Up Immediately as Key to the Pandemic Crisis. More than 1.6 million Americans have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and >10 times that number carry antibodies to it. High-risk patients presenting with progressing symptomatic disease have only hospitalization treatment with its high mortality. An outpatient treatment that prevents hospitalization is desperately needed. Two candidate medications have been widely discussed: remdesivir, and hydroxychloroquine+azithromycin. Remdesivir has shown mild effectiveness in hospitalized inpatients, but no trials…