Antivirals Effective Against Coronavirus?

Wally

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1,167
4/9/2020 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7144665/

Ongoing Clinical Trials for the Management of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 has rapidly developed into a worldwide pandemic with a significant health and economic burden. There are currently no approved treatments or preventative therapeutic strategies. Hundreds of clinical studies have been registered with the intention of discovering effective treatments. Here, we review currently registered interventional clinical trials for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 to provide an overall summary and insight into the global response. . . .
Antiviral Treatments


As briefly mentioned earlier, many studies have focused on repurposing established antiviral therapies, especially those that showed prior efficacy against SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. The combination of lopinavir/ritonavir is the most common exploratory antiviral, appearing in 34 investigational studies (Table 1A: Antivirals). Both drugs function as protease inhibitors and are used extensively in the management of HIV-1 [9]. However, lopinavir has insufficient oral bioavailability for significant therapeutic activity, due to rapid catabolism by the cytochrome P450 enzyme system (specifically 3A4 isoenzyme) [9]. Thus, ritonavir is given concomitantly to inhibit this, significantly boosting the half-life of lopinavir. Lopinavir/ritonavir was investigated for efficacy against SARS-CoV in 2004 and found to be effective compared with a historical control [10]. . . ,

Remdesivir is a novel nucleotide analogue antiviral, initially developed for the management of the Ebola and Marburg viruses [12,13]. However, it has efficacy against a range of pathogenic viruses, including both SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV in in vitro and in vivo models [12,14]. . . ,

Several other antiviral drugs are being investigated, predominately those with activity against various fluenza subtypes and other RNA viruses. These include favipiravir (T-705, Avigan), umifenovir(Arbidol), triazavirin (TZV), and baloxavir marboxil(Xofluza). Many trials are focusing on drugs typically used in the management of RNA viruses, such as HCV and HIV. These include danoprevir/ritonavir, azvudine, sofosbuvir/ledipasvir, sofosbuvir/daclatasvir, darunavir/cobicistat, and emtricitabine/ tenofovir (Table 1A: Antivirals). Additionally, there are 26 studies investigating the utility of antiviral interferon-based treatments, interestingly also looking at various different routes of administration (e.g., nasal). . . .
 

Rufous McKinney

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from the paper referenced above, we have a rather lame- disclaimer that rejects all chinese traditional studies....

It says this:

"We identified 344 interventional studies focusing on both preventative strategies and the treatment of patients with COVID-19 (Figure 1) as of 20 March 2020. This search identified 100 studies that focused on forms of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), including herbal medicines, acupuncture and other forms of complementary medicine. These have not been further analysed due to a lack of scientific rationale, inadequate provision of information regarding active ingredients, and limited applicability to mainstream medical practice."


Above makes virtually no sense.



Herbs do not contain: AN ACTIVE INGREDIENT...they contain diverse arrays of- phytochemicals and ingredients.

Reject complementary medicine by definition while claiming to consider it.

They can keep their toxic Pharmaceutical Pills.
 

Celandine

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201
Not sure if licorice has come up on this thread, but apparently in a trial of a large variety of substances as possible antivirals for SARS, liquorice came out as one of the most promising. In vitro, but still. Here's the piece on it in Nature:
https://www.nature.com/articles/news030609-16

My daughter has been taking licorice for almost 2 years now as it helps with PoTS symptoms, so it would would be nice to think it may also confer a bit of COVID protection.
 
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Regrettably I haven't read all posts but I have read Cathcart,Levy and Paulings works and they all seem to agree that enough ascorbic acid( vitamin C) will end most viral and bacterial infections. I recently read a hospital in Chicago is giving high dose C(1500mg 3X day). That's not high by some standards but it is substantial. I
I 've taken 6-10Grams for quite a while(away from food) and have good results.
 

Wayne

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Ashland, Oregon
Do we know anything about Chinese traditional herb trials? Its my understanding China may be looking into that as well. Wonder if they've generated any results.....

@Rufous McKinney -- I haven't heard about any trials, but I have seen reports it's fairly common for Chinese doctors to employ traditional Chinese herbs in their treatment of the COVID-19.
 

Hipsman

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Ukraine
I was wondering, does it make a difference when using 9ml of Povidone-iodine for gargle or 7 sprays from "nasal pump atomising device"?

From paper:
9mLof the 0·5%PVP-I solution is then introduced into the oral cavity and used as a mouthwash. Care is taken to ensure the solution is distributed throughout the oral cavity for 30 seconds and then gently gargled or held at the back of the throat for another 30seconds before spitting out.It is assumed that at most 1mL of the solution will be retained(based on self-testing using high-accuracy scales, subtracting salivary production)and absorbed, giving an anticipated maximum total dose of 0·55mg of iodine. If a nasal pump atomising device is used, 7 sprays are used aimed in different directions and then ‘licked’ around the inside of the oral cavity, yielding 0·54mg of iodine (0·14mLper actuation for most commercially available nasal atomisers at 0·077mg iodine per actuation).
 

Rufous McKinney

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This paper is describing how they intend to proceed with reviewing existing studies...etc...on chinese traditional herbal medicine relative to COVID-19.

https://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-020-01343-4

There is some discussion of how CTM was deployed successfully during the previous SARS event, with citations.

This review is focused on treatment of COVID- pneumonia.

(from my peanut gallery- deployment of CTM at the early stages of the illness is- advised; don't wait for pneumonia)
 

Rufous McKinney

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13,495
This paper is describing how they intend to proceed with reviewing existing studies...etc...on chinese traditional herbal medicine relative to COVID-19.

Its not very likely they will come to any meaningful conclusions because of all the same reasons...chinese herbs are prescribed commonly as whole herbs, in mixes, with synergistic effects and requires high level of skill in practitioners.

Why is skill needed? Diagnostics. 6000 herbs at least . And bodies/individuals vary. It is never one thing to fix all people.
 
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anne_likes_red

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I was wondering, does it make a difference when using 9ml of Povidone-iodine for gargle or 7 sprays from "nasal pump atomising device"?

From paper:
Well they are talking about using the nasal spray device into your mouth. I guess the difference would be that you'd use less, which would be important if you had a limited supply, and you'd not spit it out. I think the actual absorption of iodine must have been calculated to be approx the same either way.
I'm using the gargle approach, plus the nasal atomiser (just a basic sinus spray pump from a pharmacy) just for the sinuses. I've found treating the sinuses to be helpful in general so I'm doing this 1 x every day.
On the days I've had to visit a supermarket I've used both gargle and nasal spray 3 x that day and the next.
 

Rufous McKinney

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13,495
@Rufous McKinney Saw you were asking about TCM and thought of you when I came across this today--

Interesting! These are patented formularies....pills that would be like the equivalent of over the counter medicine in our country. THey seem to be recommending for mild to moderate cases. You'd be on other things if your case gets worse.

I usually take custom blends of raw herbs or granules (dehydrated tea, like Nescafe), but do occassionally use a formulary. In my case, Yin Chiao. Which contains the honeysuckle and forsynthia...as well as some other stuff.

I always have Yin Chiao on the shelf. Take it on airport day. Take it on: oh no, am I coming down with something. AT the first sign...is when these work best, to prevent it penetrating deeper into the system.
 

Celandine

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201
Yes, that's the impression I got from the article. These aren't for severe cases. Interesting that they say they're shipping a lot to Italy. TCM is a pretty niche thing in most non-Asian countries, I think.

My hesitation with these kind of formulations is that there always seems to be at least a couple ingredients that aren't great for me or my daughter in one way or another. Lots of herbs work as blood thinners for example, which wreaks havoc with daughter's PoTS and with me because I'm already on prescription anticoagulants. Unless you're in great health and not taking anything else at all, I can't see how a formulation with many different herbs won't interfere in one way or another. I guess the idea is that the herbs are balanced synergistically, but since we all metabolise things differently it's hard to guarantee that your body will deal with the formula in the way the maker intends. This is why I'm a one herb at a time lady. Though I do have both honeysuckle and forsythia in my backyard so maybe I can play around with those!
 
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