Hello, everyone, and welcome to the middle of the week. You made it this far, so why not continue, yes? Perhaps a cup or two of stimulation is in order. As you know, a prescription is not required. So feel free to indulge as you attack the laundry list of online meetings and deadlines that await. Meanwhile, we have once again assembled a list of tidbits for you to peruse and help you on your way. Hope you have a smashing day, and, as always, do drop us a line when you hear something interesting. …
An experimental Pfizer (PFE) oral drug to treat Covid-19 at the first sign of illness could be available by the end of the year, CNBC tells us. The company last month began an early-stage clinical trial testing a new antiviral therapy for the disease. The drug is a protease inhibitor, which works by inhibiting an enzyme that the virus needs to replicate in human cells. Protease inhibitors are used to treat HIV and hepatitis C. If trials go well and the Food and Drug Administration approves it, the drug could be distributed across the U.S. by the end of the year.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Emergent BioSolutions (EBS) chief executive officer Robert Kramer concerning reports that he sold $10 million of company shares just weeks before the disclosure that production problems at the company’s Baltimore plant had ruined 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Covid-19 vaccine. The company contended that the stock sales were permissible because they were made as part of a trading plan that he adopted on Nov. 13.
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Good luck to Pfizer in getting their protease inhibitor tested and shown safe and effective for Covid19. Merck, who has been testing their antiviral Molnupiravir in a randomized clinical trial in the US when there were 50,000 new cases a day, still took 8 months to recruit 1,400 participants. How is Pfizer going to find the patients when the number of new patients decreases to 2,000 a day and eventually down to 200 new cases a day?