Here is the side by side. Pretty lame from our perspective, but not like the Landstreet debacle, or Meg Tirrell just moving on to the next non-leronlimab question w/o a mention.
Original Version
EDITED VERSION
Original Version
Quote:CytoDyn, a Vancouver, Wash., biotechnology company, recently applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to test its experimental drug, leronlimab, on 102 long Covid patients, says Scott A. Kelly, chief medical officer of the company.
Leronlimab, a monoclonal antibody administered through subcutaneous injections, was developed as an HIV drug. When the pandemic hit, the company shifted to Covid-19. The same receptor that allows HIV to enter cells is also important in regulating immune cells; some doctors believe long-term Covid symptoms are caused by the immune system going haywire. The company has recently tested the treatment in severe Covid patients as well as in mild to moderate cases, some of which were long-haul patients.
Some patients with long-term symptoms reported their brain fog and cognition issues improving after treatment. "When we started to see these patients saying the brain fog was clearing, we were encouraged," says Dr. Kelly. A new trial would test the drug specifically on long-haul patients.
Dr. Kelly says they believe leronlimab may be alleviating brain inflammation. Leronlimab binds to a cell receptor that contributes to the regulation of immune cells that sometimes flood an area and destroy tissue. Blocking that receptor may slow down the inflammatory response, which some scientists believe is triggering problems in long Covid patients.
"We are hopeful we can control the neuroinflammation in the brain which we think causes a lot of these problems with autonomic dysfunction, fatigue, brain fog," says Dr. Kelly. The company says patients haven't reported significant side effects in the clinical trials they've done for Covid and HIV.
Dr. Kelly says the interest in such a treatment is tremendous. "I get emails every day about wanting to participate in the trial," he says. Among them is Patrick Varnes, a 41-year-old financial director in Atlanta who was diagnosed with Covid at the end of June. Nearly six months later he continues to have shortness of breath, fatigue and headaches. "I've had
shortness of breath every single day," says Mr. Varnes. Before Covid-19, Mr. Varnes was a fitness buff. He went to a CrossFit gym five days a week. Now, he can't do much more than go on a walk.
He heard about leronlimab from an online support group and reached out to Christopher Recknor, a Gainesville, Ga., physician who runs clinical trials for CytoDyn. Mr. Varnes did a pre-screening; if the FDA approves a trial, he'll be able to join it, says Dr. Recknor.
Mr. Varnes says he's tried nearly 30 different supplements, acupuncture and a steroid. "After six months of living inan internal prison, I need to try it," says Mr. Varnes. "I really, really hope it works."
EDITED VERSION
Quote:Before Covid-19, Mr. Varnes was a fitness buff. He went to a CrossFit gym five days a week. Now, he can't do much more than go on a walk. "I've had shortness of breath every single day," says Mr. Varnes.
He heard about a drug called leronlimab from an online support group and reached out to a physician who runs clinical trials for CytoDyn, a Vancouver, Wash., biotechnology company. It recently applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to test its experimental drug, leronlimab, on 102 long Covid patients, says Scott A. Kelly, chief medical officer of the company.
Leronlimab, a monoclonal antibody administered through subcutaneous injections, was developed as an HIV drug. It hasn't been FDA approved for HIV or for Covid. The company has recently tested the treatment in severe Covid patients as well as in mild to moderate cases, some of which were long-haul patients. The research is preliminary; there is no published data from human trials validating the results. A new trial would test the drug specifically on long-haul patients. The company says patients haven't reported significant side effects in the clinical trials they've done for Covid and HIV.
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