[HN Gopher] Pfizer is testing a pill that, if successful, could ...
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Pfizer is testing a pill that, if successful, could cure Covid-19
Author : mvzvm
Score : 73 points
Date : 2021-04-26 21:45 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (montrealgazette.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (montrealgazette.com)
| johnchristopher wrote:
| Totally OT: that video pop-up, you click the close button and it
| disappears but as soon as you scroll it reappears. Evil.
| jszymborski wrote:
| Welcome to the hell that is Postmedia websites.
|
| It's not suffice that all of Canada's local newspapers were
| acquired by one giant conglomerate and is slowly killing them
| off, but they've also make some of the worst website
| experiences.
| scoopertrooper wrote:
| > The trial is split into three phases and will run for 145 days,
| with another 28 days added for "screening and dosing". For all
| participants, there will be several overnight stays.
|
| Let's not get too excited...
| mvzvm wrote:
| Actual title: "Pfizer is testing a pill that, if successful,
| could become first-ever home cure for COVID-19" - Edited down as
| best as I could to fit the length.
| gnicholas wrote:
| > _Every detail has been specified in advance. In Phase 3, for
| example, a high-fat breakfast is defined as: "2 eggs fried in
| butter, 2 strips of pork bacon, 2 slices of toast with butter, 4
| oz. of hash brown potatoes, and 8 oz. of whole milk... eaten in
| 20 minutes"._
|
| Quite some details! Presumably this part of the testing is to see
| if large amounts of fat shouldn't be consumed along with the
| pill.
| css wrote:
| I cannot imagine consuming that much food that quickly... what
| is this supposed to represent?
|
| - 2 eggs: 150 cal
|
| - 2 bacon strips: 50 cal
|
| - 2 toast slices: 150 cal
|
| - 4oz hash brown: 370 cal
|
| - 8 oz whole milk: 100 cal
|
| Before butter and oil, that's over 800 calories...
| rlt wrote:
| > what is this supposed to represent?
|
| America.
| hprotagonist wrote:
| when i was 20, "monday".
| tedunangst wrote:
| Two minutes to eat an egg or strip of bacon doesn't seem
| impossible.
| matwood wrote:
| That's not much at all, though I cut the hash browns and up
| the eggs and bacon.
| DoreenMichele wrote:
| Just this morning I probably had 8oz of hash browns, three
| strips of bacon, an egg and half a pancake with butter. Plus
| a mocha frap.
|
| Granted, I'm medically prescribed a high fat diet. But there
| are people who eat that way, sometimes because they work hard
| and are big guys, so 2000 calories a day would be a
| starvation diet.
| gnicholas wrote:
| I think it's not so much the total calories, but the sheer
| amount of fat. That is, if we send the pill down your GI
| tract with 1/4 of grease, will it still work?
|
| Presumably their "high-fat" condition has to be fattier than
| any reasonable person would eat on a regular basis, so that
| it establishes a useful upper bound. If it was just a couple
| eggs and hash browns, then finding it's still effective
| wouldn't be useful because some people eat fattier breakfasts
| than that.
| sudosteph wrote:
| So, I'm getting the feeling that you might not be a regular
| at Waffle House.
| hvjackson wrote:
| Yes it's a big breakfast but if a normal diet is 2000-2500
| calories per day, 820 for 1 meal doesn't seem that weird.
| minedwiz wrote:
| If eating a massive breakfast with it helps the pill work, then
| it's finally England's time to shine.
| Udik wrote:
| I expect the medium term survival of the participants to this
| particular trial to be zero.
| p1necone wrote:
| Sign me up!
| sradman wrote:
| The March 23 press release _Pfizer Initiates Phase 1 Study of
| Novel Oral Antiviral Therapeutic Agent Against SARS-CoV-2_
|
| https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-deta...
| gnicholas wrote:
| > _Pfizer is keeping schtum about the detail of the lab tests it
| has completed but says it has demonstrated "potent in vitro
| antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2", as well as activity
| against other coronaviruses, raising the prospect of a cure for
| the common cold as well as future pandemic threats._
|
| I have wondered if the COVID-19 pandemic might lead to some
| results, like extermination of the common cold, that humans would
| look back on and say that it was a net benefit. Something along
| the lines of, "yes, 4 million people died, but in fighting
| COVID-19 we created highly-effective therapeutics for the flu and
| common cold. Over the following 10 years, these inventions saved
| 4 million lives and saved 15 million days of lost work/school".
|
| It's hard to think about these things as we are going through the
| pandemic, but hopefully there will be some good that comes of it.
| (Of course, it's also possible that by thinking we've 'cured' the
| common cold, we will open ourselves up to a once-a-century
| pandemic, where millions are wiped out by what used to just be a
| common cold.)
| cblconfederate wrote:
| mRNA vaccines is already one of those
| _0ffh wrote:
| Those were already well underway.
| swader999 wrote:
| Gargling and snorting mouthwash until this is ready.
| https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/222/8/1289/5878067
| cmckn wrote:
| This SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor is the latest scientific
| overlap of COVID and HIV -- I am so hopeful that cross
| pollination will (continue to) lead to breakthroughs for both
| diseases.
| dylan604 wrote:
| "clean-living adults"
|
| A phrase I was totally unfamiliar with, and not really sure of
| what it means in context. Non recreational drug users? Non-
| McDonalds eaters? Only eats nonGMO, organic foods? Bathes
| regularly?
| ta9999 wrote:
| Maybe something to do with household cleanliness? I know when I
| go into dirty buildings my allergies mess me up.
| icegreentea2 wrote:
| Not sure exactly where they got that from, but here's the
| registry for the US phase 1 trial
| (https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT04756531)
|
| The last condition of the exclusion criteria is "Use of tobacco
| or nicotine containing products in excess of the equivalents of
| 5 cigarettes per day or 2 chews of tobacco per day", which
| seems somewhat related.
| jMyles wrote:
| > "clean-living adults"
|
| This is not an ordinary term-of-art in pharmaceutical research.
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(page generated 2021-04-26 23:00 UTC)