Jessy Koshy BDS DMD PC

12/22/2021

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/96356

Paxlovid first oral antiviral authorized to treat high-risk COVID patients

12/22/2021

How Pfizer developed a COVID pill in record time
Food and Drug Administration for treating patients with COVID-19, and both may be effective against the omicron variant.

One is made by Merck, the other by Pfizer.

The Merck drug has been in development for years. When the pandemic began, Pfizer's drug didn't exist. The story of its development is another example of how COVID-19 has sped up the drug and vaccine development process.

Pfizer wasn't starting exactly from zero. Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer's chief scientific officer, says that during the SARS outbreak in 2003, company scientists had begun to search for ways to combat that coronavirus.

In particular, they looked for proteins crucial for the virus to replicate once it infected someone.

Pfizer focused on protein virus needs for replication
One viral protein they focused on is called a protease. "We have learned that protease is a key regulator for the virus to unleash its machinery and hijack the human cells," Dolsten says.

Pfizer scientists thought if they could find a compound that would disrupt the protease, it would essentially stop the virus dead in its tracks.

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That search petered out when the 2003 SARS outbreak passed. No disease, no market for a drug.

But Dolsten says the knowledge that was gained convinced them that a protease inhibitor would work to corral the coronavirus causing COVID-19.

They made computer models of the viral protease protein and assembled drug candidates that might block it.

"We actually had to design and synthesize some 600 unique chemical compounds," he says.

An old medicine helps the new drug work better
That was just the start. They had to test each compound to see how well it prevented the virus from infecting cells in the lab. Then they had to determine whether it would do the same thing in animals infected with the coronavirus. They also needed to find a candidate that would remain in someone's body long enough to have the desired antiviral effect. And they wanted to do all this fast.

"We put in place some very aggressive timelines where we made all of this happen over four months to come down to the optimal medicine," Dolsten says.

In the end, the drug developers had a candidate they thought would work. They mixed it in a pill with an old drug called ritonavir that extended the action of the protease inhibitor.

12/22/2021

COVID-19 cases have risen more than 200 percent in the last two weeks. You need to take steps to keep yourself safe TODAY:

1) Mask Up - masking works and reduces COVID-19 cases, even if you're vaccinated.

2) Vax Up - If you're not yet vaccinated, now's the perfect time to give yourself the gift of health. Appointments are available.

3) Boost Up - Boosters are recommended for everyone 16+ at least 6 months after getting your COVID-19 vaccine, especially if you're a senior or have a compromised immune system.

The pandemic isn't over. With your help we can keep each other safe.

COVID-19 Vaccine Information for Fulton County

09/20/2021

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/20/covid-is-americas-deadliest-pandemic-as-us-fatalities-near-1918-flu-estimates.html

Reported U.S. deaths due to Covid crossed 675,000, Johns Hopkins data shows, and is still increasing at an average of more than 1,900 fatalities per day.

10/19/2020

https://scitechdaily.com/johns-hopkins-researchers-identify-immune-system-pathway-that-may-stop-covid-19-infection/

Blocking Immune System Pathway May Stop COVID-19 Infection, Prevent Severe Organ Damage While the world waits eagerly for a safe and effective vaccine to prevent infections from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers also

04/15/2020

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a virus (more specifically, a coronavirus) identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China.

04/15/2020

The best way to prevent COVID-19 infection is to avoid exposure to this virus and use healthy habits.