Boris Johnson announces the start of clinical trials with coronavirus in Great Britain


A pharmacist told MailOnline that he was out of stock when checking for supplies of hydroxychloroquine - one of the drugs expected to be tested on coronavirus patients in the UK -

A malaria drug that can treat critically ill coronavirus patients is already scarce in the UK after US President Donald Trump revealed that US hospitals would double its use.

An NHS pharmacist warned MailOnline that there are already shortages of the drug hydroxychloroquine, which is used to prevent malaria and treat lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.

It is one of three drugs that the government banned companies from exporting from the UK last month.

This raised the chance that it will be given to coronavirus patients in the UK as doctors in other countries have claimed it to be a successful therapy.

The similar chloroquinephosphate was also on the export ban and used for similar purposes and is promising in coronavirus patients.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed yesterday that at least one British patient is now part of a clinical trial to end the deadly disease.

But the government has refused to reveal details about what medication they are receiving.

Trump said yesterday that chloroquine showed “ very encouraging early results, ” so U.S. officials urged it to be immediately available to doctors across the country.

A pharmacist told MailOnline that he was out of stock when checking for supplies of hydroxychloroquine - one of the drugs expected to be tested on coronavirus patients in the UK -

A pharmacist told MailOnline that he was out of stock when checking for supplies of hydroxychloroquine – one of the drugs expected to be tested on coronavirus patients in the UK –

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in his daily national speech yesterday that the first UK patient has undergone a clinical trial of potential coronavirus therapy - the government has so far refused to disclose details of the trial

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in his daily national speech yesterday that the first UK patient has undergone a clinical trial of potential coronavirus therapy - the government has so far refused to disclose details of the trial

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced yesterday in his daily national speech that the first British patient has undergone a clinical trial of potential coronavirus therapy – the government has so far refused to disclose details of the trial

One of the most promising candidates for COVID-19 treatment is chloroquine, which is normally used to prevent malaria or to treat rheumatoid arthritis or lupus

One of the most promising candidates for COVID-19 treatment is chloroquine, which is normally used to prevent malaria or to treat rheumatoid arthritis or lupus

One of the most promising candidates for COVID-19 treatment is chloroquine, which is normally used to prevent malaria or to treat rheumatoid arthritis or lupus

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION LAUNCHES GLOBAL CLINICAL TRIAL

The World Health Organization has said it will launch an international clinical trial to try to find a cure for the coronavirus.

Countries around the world will test brake desivir; HIV medication lopinavir and ritonavir; and chloroquine, an anti-malarial, Stat News reported.

The drugs have already been licensed for human use, so it would be approved and manufactured much faster than a new one.

And they have all been tested by doctors in China, with varying results.

The SOLIDARITY trial has already been signed by Argentina, Bahrain, Canada, France, Iran, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and Thailand – WHO hopes more countries will sign up.

“Multiple small studies using different methodologies may not provide us with clear, strong evidence that we need about which treatments help save lives,” said WHO.

The drugs are being tested along with other patients who receive normal hospital care so that the two can be compared.

In his daily speech to the nation yesterday, the Prime Minister said, “We are quickly getting so much better at understanding the genomics at the heart of this virus …

“We are getting better at understanding the drugs that can treat and cure it and today we put the first UK corona patient in a randomized trial of drugs that can treat these things.

“British experts – scientists – expect to start trials for the first vaccine within a month and, above all, we’re getting better at testing.”

There are now a total of 3,269 people diagnosed with the coronavirus in the UK and 144 have died.

Worldwide, an estimated 88,000 people have recovered from diagnosis, but there is no cure yet for COVID-19, the disease causing the virus.

It’s not clear what drugs or drugs British doctors are experimenting with, but one of the most hopeful drugs is chloroquine.

This can be known as chloroquinephosphate or hydroxychloroquine sulfate.

It is widely used in travel clinics for its ability to prevent malaria and is given to patients with rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, who can help control the immune system.

The government last month banned pharmaceutical companies from buying British shares of both versions of the drugs to sell them abroad.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued the warning to protect the UK’s assumptions about the medication as doctors around the world are trying to use it as coronavirus therapy.

The move also creates the chance that doctors in the UK will try to use it, after doctors in China, Italy, the Netherlands and South Korea have all said they have seen success giving patients with COVID-19.

Twenty-three clinical trials of the drug are already underway in patients in China, and one is planned at the University of Minnesota in the US and another in South Korea.

However, there are concerns that switching to the use of chloroquine medications may lead to a shortage for patients who use it routinely.

A pharmacist who worked in the NHS told MailOnline, “If doctors are going to prescribe hydroxychloroquine here to treat the symptoms of coronavirus here, it would affect those taking the drug for rheumatoid arthritis, which puts additional stress on current supply problems.”

He added, “I know there are problems [with unavailability] in the past … We sold out so many medicines every day.

Drug shortages are a common problem in the pharmacy, and it’s frustrating for patients at the best of times.

“I feel like Trump is giving people false hope if the demand exceeds the supply.

“Hopefully, more care will be taken in this country before it goes full steam ahead without much thought and evidence.”

Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are commonly prescribed in the UK and the NHS distributed them nearly 60 million times in 2018 at a cost of £ 5.2 million.

The health service buys tablets for just 8p each, with the more expensive liquid solutions costing up to £ 2.25 per prescription.

A petition signed by about 600 people calls on the government to initiate chloroquine trials in coronvirus patients

A petition signed by about 600 people calls on the government to initiate chloroquine trials in coronvirus patients

A petition signed by about 600 people calls on the government to initiate chloroquine trials in coronvirus patients

The UK government advocates that people stop going out in public unless absolutely necessary. Pictured, a line of shoppers today at a LIDL supermarket in Walthamstow, London

The UK government advocates that people stop going out in public unless absolutely necessary. Pictured, a line of shoppers today at a LIDL supermarket in Walthamstow, London

The UK government advocates that people stop going out in public unless absolutely necessary. Pictured, a line of shoppers today at a LIDL supermarket in Walthamstow, London

Panic buyers have been criticized by officials and critics for looting supermarkets with essentials such as toilet paper, pasta, rice and canned goods.

Panic buyers have been criticized by officials and critics for looting supermarkets with essentials such as toilet paper, pasta, rice and canned goods.

Panic buyers have been criticized by officials and critics for looting supermarkets with essentials such as toilet paper, pasta, rice and canned goods.

GOVERNMENT REQUEST FOR TEST CHLOROQUINE

An online petition has been launched calling on authorities to test an antimalarial drug called chloroquine in coronavirus patients in the UK.

Doctors and scientists around the world are struggling to find a way to treat the deadly disease with existing drugs that don’t require long-term safety tests.

And the government’s drug regulator has banned companies from exporting three specific drugs used to treat HIV and malaria – including chloroquine – in an attempt to boost supplies in the UK.

A change.org petition has been launched entitled ‘Start an immediate UK trial of Chloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 (Coronavirus)’.

It says, “This treatment is readily available, cheap to manufacture, and patent-free.

“We should immediately test this treatment in patients who have developed Covid-19 associated pneumonia.”

The petition was signed by approximately 600 people.

Chloroquine is an anti-malarial drug that works by preventing parasites from multiplying in the body and can stop the coronavirus by making the inside of a cell too dangerous to let in a virus.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology – in the city where the crisis began – claimed that chloroquine was “very effective” in destroying the coronavirus in petri dish tests.

A petition from change.org has been launched with the title ‘Start an Immediate UK trial for Chloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 (Coronavirus)’.

It says, “This treatment is readily available, inexpensive to manufacture, and is patent-free.

“We should immediately test this treatment in patients who have developed Covid-19 associated pneumonia.”

The petition has been signed by approximately 600 people as pressure on the NHS increases to try experimental therapies.

And hopes for the medication have increased in the U.S. after President Donald Trump said in a speech yesterday, “Hydroxychloroquine … is known as a malaria drug and has been around for a long time and is very powerful.

“But the nice thing is that it has been around for a long time, so we know that if it doesn’t go as planned, no one will be killed.

“If you go with a brand new medicine, you don’t know that’s going to happen …

“It has been very encouraging – very, very encouraging early results. And we can make that drug available almost immediately …

“So we’ll be able to make that drug available on prescription or in states.”

Professor Robin May, infectious disease specialist at Birmingham University, said the drug’s safety is “well established”.

He added, “It is inexpensive and relatively easy to manufacture, so it would be quite easy to accelerate to clinical trials and, if successful, eventually to treatment.”

Professor May suggested that chloroquine may work by changing the acidity of the cell area it attacks, making it more difficult for the virus to replicate.

Another drug the UK is expected to test in its coronavirus patient is the drug SNG001, which is inhaled directly into the lungs.

It is designed to prevent serious lower respiratory tract diseases caused by colds and flu infections when they spread to the lungs.

Phase II clinical trials in asthma patients have previously shown that the drug is well tolerated, improves the antiviral defense of the lungs, and improves lung function in the common cold or flu infection.

The trial – led by Professor Tom Wilkinson, an expert in respiratory medicine at University Hospital Southampton – will include 100 patients in Southampton and up to 10 other NHS hospitals.

Professor Wilkinson told it Daily Express: ‘The science is certainly correct. We learn a lot about the pandemic every day.

“But that’s why we need to do this study to understand if the drug is working.”

Participants receive current Covid-19 care while inhaling a placebo or SNG001 for 14 days – a special formulation of the naturally occurring antiviral protein interferon beta 1a (IFN beta).

Flu, Antimalaria, Arthritis, and HIV Medications: The Promising Therapies Tested on Coronavirus Patients Around the World – But How Much Are the NHS Trying?

NHS hospitals are under increasing pressure to use experimental drugs to attempt to treat patients infected with the coronavirus.

Doctors and pharmaceutical companies around the world are looking for a drug that can stop the deadly virus, which has killed more than 8,200 people.

Drugs already in use for conditions ranging from HIV to rheumatoid arthritis, malaria, flu and even Ebola are serious contenders and are being tested to see how they can help patients infected with COVID-19.

The government has declined to confirm whether one is being tested on the 2626 coronavirus patients in the UK – the NHS advises anyone with troubling symptoms to take acetaminophen and rest at home unless they feel life-threateningly ill.

But the drug regulator last month banned companies from exporting three drugs – for HIV and malaria – in an effort to protect UK supplies.

All three have been used in experimental treatments by doctors in China, which increases Britain’s prospects for the same.

Here, MailOnline reveals some of the drugs that experts think have potential.

Chloroquine phosphate (Malaria)

A drug used by doctors who fight the coronavirus outbreak is chloroquinephosphate, an antimalarial drug.

The drug – sold under the brand name Arlan – kills malaria parasites in the blood and stops tropical disease in its tracks.

But tests of the drug – which has been used for 70 years – in COVID-19 patients in China show that it has potential to fight the life-threatening virus.

A drug used by doctors who fight the coronavirus outbreak is chloroquinephosphate, an antimalarial drug. It is sold under the brand name Arlan

A drug used by doctors who fight the coronavirus outbreak is chloroquinephosphate, an antimalarial drug. It is sold under the brand name Arlan

A drug used by doctors who fight the coronavirus outbreak is chloroquinephosphate, an antimalarial drug. It is sold under the brand name Arlan

Chinese officials claimed the drug was “proven to be effective and acceptably safe in the treatment of COVID-19 associated pneumonia.”

Experts from the University of Palermo in Italy and a team in Israel have collected the study of the drug in the treatment of the coronavirus.

In their report, they claimed that officials in the Netherlands already suggest treating critically ill patients with the drug.

According to South Korea and China, the drug is an “effective” antiviral treatment for the disease, according to a report by U.S. virologists.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology – in the city where the crisis began – claimed the drug was “very effective” in petri dish testing.

Tests by those researchers, as well as others, showed that it has the power to stop the virus from replicating in cells and holding the body.

Twenty-three clinical trials of the drug are already underway in patients in China, and one is planned in the US and another in South Korea.

University of Minnesota experts plan to test whether the drug – sometimes given to treat lupus and arthritis – prevents the progression of COVID-19.

Chloroquine was prescribed about 46,000 times in the UK in 2018, but it is also available at pharmacies without a prescription.

Professor Robin May, infectious disease specialist at Birmingham University, said the drug’s safety profile is “well established.”

He added, “It is inexpensive and relatively easy to manufacture, so it would be quite easy to accelerate to clinical trials and, if successful, eventually to treatment.”

Professor May suggested that chloroquine may work by changing the acidity of the cell area it attacks, making it more difficult for the virus to replicate.

Hydroxychloroquine (Malaria)

Chinese scientists investigating the other form of chloroquine wrote a letter to a prestigious journal stating that its ‘less toxic’ derivative could also help.

Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil, can treat COVID-19

Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil, can treat COVID-19

Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil, can treat COVID-19

In the comment to Cell Discovery – owned by Nature publishing house, they said it shares similar chemical structures and mechanisms.

The team of experts added, “It is easy to evoke the idea that hydroxychloroquine may be a powerful candidate to treat infection by SARS-CoV-2.”

But the scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology admitted they still have no evidence to prove it is as effective as chloroquinephosphate.

Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil, causes side effects such as rash, nausea, diarrhea and headache.

Drug giant Sanofi conducted a study in 24 patients, which the French government called “promising.”

The results showed that three-quarters of patients treated with the drug had the virus cleared within six days. None of the placebo groups were treated.

French health officials are now planning a larger trial of the drug, which is used on the NHS to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and malaria.

Lopinavir / ritonavir (HIV)

Lopinavir / ritonavir, marketed as Kaletra and Aluvia, is an HIV medicine given to people living with the virus to prevent it from developing into AIDS.

Lopinavir / ritonavir, marketed under the brand names Kaletra and Aluvia, is an anti-HIV medicine

Lopinavir / ritonavir, marketed under the brand names Kaletra and Aluvia, is an anti-HIV medicine

Lopinavir / ritonavir, marketed under the brand names Kaletra and Aluvia, is an anti-HIV medicine

The drug has shown promise as a way to tackle the coronavirus, scientists say, because it can bind to the outside of the coronavirus.

It is a class of medicines called a protease inhibitor that essentially clings to an enzyme on a virus that is vital for the reproduction of the virus. Doing so blocks the process that the virus would normally use to clone itself and spread the infection further.

In a clinical trial application filed in the US from the Asan Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea, scientists said, “In vitro [laboratory] studies have shown that lopinavir / ritonavir [has] antiviral activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). ‘

Chinese media reported that the drug was used successfully to cure patients with the coronavirus, but the reports have not been scientifically proven.

US-based manufacturer AbbVie has donated free supplies of Kaletra to health authorities in China, the US and Europe – it’s not clear if the UK is included.

The drug is available on the NHS and was prescribed about 1,400 times in 2018, either as Kaletra or as ritonavir alone.

Favipiravir (flu)

Favipiravir is the active ingredient in Avigan, a flu drug sold in Japan.

Doctors in China claimed that it was “clearly effective” in patients with the coronavirus after giving it to 80 people in the cities of Wuhan and Shenzen.

Favipiravir is the active ingredient in Avigan, a flu drug sold in Japan

Favipiravir is the active ingredient in Avigan, a flu drug sold in Japan

Favipiravir is the active ingredient in Avigan, a flu drug sold in Japan

They said it accelerated patient recovery, reduced lung damage, and did not cause obvious side effects. It is also used to treat yellow fever and foot-and-mouth disease.

According to local media, patients who received the drug in Shenzhen had negative coronavirus results on average four days after diagnosis.

This compared to 11 days for those not treated with the drug. It is not clear what the results of the tests were in Wuhan, the worst affected part of China.

The drug is an antiviral drug that neutralizes a vital enzyme that viruses use to reproduce. It is called an RNA polymerase inhibitor.

It is not used by the NHS. It is produced by the Japanese company Fujifilm Toyama Chemical.

Remdesivir (Ebola)

Remdesivir is an antiviral drug that works in much the same way as favipiravir – by paralyzing the RNA polymerase enzyme and preventing a virus from reproducing.

It was developed about 10 years ago by the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences with the intention of destroying the Ebola virus. However, it was pushed aside when other better candidates came forward.

Remdesivir is an antiviral drug that works in much the same way as favipiravir - by paralyzing the RNA polymerase enzyme and preventing a virus from reproducing

Remdesivir is an antiviral drug that works in much the same way as favipiravir - by paralyzing the RNA polymerase enzyme and preventing a virus from reproducing

Remdesivir is an antiviral drug that works in much the same way as favipiravir – by paralyzing the RNA polymerase enzyme and preventing a virus from reproducing

But it remained an antiviral drug that could destroy various viruses in lab tests, scientists said. Doctors in the US tried three hospitalized coronavirus patients, but the results were mixed.

The drug is now being tested on coronavirus patients in China and at the University of Nebraska, CNN reports.

Doctors write in a study led by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature said last month: “Our findings show that remdesivir [is] very effective in fighting 2019 nCoV infection in vitro. ‘

They added that since the drug has been proven to be safe in humans, it “should be assessed in human patients suffering from the new coronavirus disease.”

Remdesivir is not prescribed on the NHS.

Sarilumab (rheumatoid arthritis)

Sarilumab, a rheumatoid arthritis drug marketed in the United States as Kevzara, will be tested on patients in the U.S.

Sarilumab, a rheumatoid arthritis drug marketed in the United States as Kevzara, will be tested on patients in the U.S.

Sarilumab, a rheumatoid arthritis drug marketed in the United States as Kevzara, will be tested on patients in the U.S.

Sarilumab, a rheumatoid arthritis drug marketed as Kevzara and available for prescription on the NHS, will be tested in patients in the U.S.

Pharmaceutical companies Sanofi and Regeneron plan to give the medication to people with the coronavirus to see if it can help calm their immune response.

The drug works by blocking part of the immune system that can cause inflammation or swelling, which is overactive in people with rheumatoid arthritis.

Inflammation is the body’s natural response to infection, but in patients with coronavirus, it can get out of hand, significantly worsening symptoms and even causing multiple organ failure.

Regeneron, who makes the drug, said Chinese doctors say it worked for their patients, the Financial Times reported. He said the drug could provide “temporary support” by reducing the severity of patients’ symptoms to help hospitals cope.

John Reed, of Sanofi, told the FT: “We expect to start trials soon outside the US, including areas most affected by the pandemic, such as Italy, in the coming weeks.”

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