Coronavirus: Promising News On Remdesivir Drug....Maybe??
The world is cheering the news that Gilead Science's antiviral drug remdesivir is showing a "clear cut positive effect in diminishing time to recover" for those infected with the covid-19 virus.
President Trump says he is now pushing the FDA to fast-track remdesivir through the approvals process.
So the media is filled with joyous headlines and the stock market had a banner up day.
But as with most announcements lately, digging into the supporting research raises lots of questions about the news.
First off, China's published studies of remdesivir show little to no evidence that the drug makes any difference either in clinical improvement or mortality improvement.
The NAID study being reported today agrees very similarly with China's data EXCEPT that it saw "very significant" clinical improvement. We don't yet have access to the research results themselves, so until we do, there are serious open questions that need to be addressed.
In other news, we're saddened to report that the warnings we issued weeks ago on food supply insecurity are proving true.
Processing plants are being shut down nationwide. Millions of chickens, cattle and pigs are being culled, their carcasses discarded. And millions of tons of produce left to rot. All while food bank demand is soaring from the tens of millions of Americans who have recently lost their jobs.
More voices in the media are now predicting a food crisis ahead. So get going on that garden!
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, May 1, 2020.]
