Coronavirus research is ongoing in many areas.

Pfizer recently announced 90% effectiveness with their vaccine. Eli Lilly believes that antibody treatments will not be replaced by vaccines.

Announcement

https://www.newsmax.com/health/headline/eli-lilly-antibody-treatment-vaccine-pfizer/2020/11/10/id/996368/ The FDA granted Eli Lilly an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) this week. The pandemic needs to be treated on many fronts.

Preventing a disease is ideal – stopping it before it spreads. When that fails, surviving the illness is critical. The processes to develop vaccines have been rushed. What normally takes five to ten years is being crunched into less than one year. Many people fear that the safety of the vaccine will not be known for another two or three years. By that time, their immune systems or lives may be in danger.

When people avoid a vaccine, what options are available? Antibody treatments are effective against viruses. They do not provide long-term protection but do stop the viral infection in the short term

Testing and Production

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/10/eli-lilly-says-covid-antibody-drugs-needed-even-if-theres-a-vaccine.html Vaccines are difficult to manufacture, maintain, transport, and distribute to the end-user, especially in rural areas. Antibodies can be administered in rural areas without the complications of vaccines.

Antibody treatments work best when the infection is first found. Clinical studies show that treating the disease early on is more effective than waiting until complications develop in the hospital. An October 2020 study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that clinical trials showed that 1.6% of patients ended up in hospitals when treated with antibodies. Four times that number given a placebo were treated in comparison.

Eli Lilly shipped just under 100,000 doses of its antibody therapy this week and will have another 10,000 doses available shortly. The company expects to produce around 800,000 doses in December.

Methodology

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2029849 Antibodies neutralize a virus. The study cited earlier was the phase II clinical trial that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It was a controlled, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single-dose trial involving over 450 COVID-19 patients at over 40 hospitals. The results were extremely positive and promising in reducing the viral load over time.

Conclusion

Testing must prove the safety and efficacy of any drug that will be administered to people. Testing takes time. Antibody treatments appear to be a reasonable option for those people who feel uncertain or will not take a vaccine based on it rushed research and development.

Live Longer & Enjoy Life! – Red O’Laughlin – RedOLaughlin.com

 

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