China tired to patent potential coronavirus drug Remsvidir the DAY AFTER Beijing confirmed virus was transmissable between humans On January 21 a patent for commercial use of Remdesivir was filed in China The application was made by the top-secret Wuhan Institute of Virology bio-lab It is at the centre of concerns about a possible leak … Read more
The man who died ingesting fish tank cleaner thinking it was the drug championed by Donald Trump to beat COVID-19 has been remembered as a ‘level-headed’ engineer. Gary Lenius and his wife Wanda, both in their 60s, took chloroquine phosphate, confusing it with hydroxychloroquine, last month. Gary died and Wanda was left in critical condition after drinking the … Read more
There are more than 70 trials for treatments for coronavirus happening in the US, and the race for a therapeutic leave labs shorthanded of researchers, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official has said. ‘Although we may not run out of patients, unfortunately, we may run out of research personnel and time availability to do … Read more
Experimental cancer drug may stop coronavirus in its tracks by blocking the virus from copying itself and spreading in the body in the same way it freezes tumor growth, researchers claim The University of Louisville developed a synthetic DNA piece called ‘aptamer’ that binds a protein called nucleolin found on the surface of cells It … Read more
A US pharmaceutical company is disputing reports that its experimental antiviral drug failed to help patients patients with severe cases of the novel coronavirus. On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) prematurely posted a draft summary of a trial of the drug remdesivir, made by California-based Gilead Sciences. Originally developed as a treatment for Ebola, the … Read more
Hydroxychloroquine What are the brand versions of the drug? Plaquenil. What does it treat? Malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. It is a less powerful and, by some experts’ accounts, less toxic, version of chloroquine phosphate. Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil, may treat COVID-19 Who makes it and where has it already been tested? … Read more
A new global clinical trial is launching to test if a common anti-inflammatory drug colchicine can prevent serious complications caused by the novel coronavirus. The study, which will recruit 6,000 participants from the US, Canada and Europe, will examine colchicine. Colchicine is most often used to treat gout, a complex form of arthritis that causes … Read more
Tocilizumab, marketed as Actemra, will be given to hundreds of critically ill coronavirus patients in the NHS Hundreds of critically ill coronavirus patients in the NHS will be given an arthritis drug as part of the world’s largest trial of promising therapies. Tocilizumab, sold as RoActemra or Actemra, will be administered to patients whose lungs … Read more
Cannabis really is a gateway drug that leads users on to harder illegal substances like cocaine by making users more sensitive to its effects Smoking cannabis boosts brains’ sensitivity to cocaine, US researchers report Young rats exposed to cannabis had ‘enhanced reaction’ to cocaine exposure In young humans cannabis abuse can enhance experiences with a … Read more
A row over drugs pricing has delayed a revolution in cancer treatment which could provide hope for thousands of patients. Health bosses last year promised to fast track what they called ‘game-changing’ new gene-targeted cancer drugs. Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, in June said the advantages of these new drugs was ‘potentially … Read more