Coronavirus cure is still not found by health experts around the globe. Thankfully, there were already a lot of hospitals testing their versions of COVID-19 cure for a faster way of solving the viral disease. On Sunday, Mar 29, a U.S-Israeli pharmaceutical company found a medicine that may lead us to flatten the curve to this disease. The US Food and Drug Administration also wants this medicine to have its test trials starting next week. Will it be the long-awaited solution we're looking for?
US FDA: Israeli drug to cure Coronavirus now OK for test-trial!
As of today, Mar 30, more than 700,000 people were already infected with COVID-19, while over 35,000 died. With this, everyone is now more determined to find a way to solve this pandemic. Interestingly, the US FDA finally approved medicine that may be one of a potential cure against the virus.
On a local report in Israel, NeuroRx, a US-Israeli pharmaceutical company, and Relief Therapeutics, a Swiss drug development company, had finally got approval from the FDA. The companies explained that they are not yet approved to market the medicine. They are only allowed for test trials. The companies are currently approved to create phase-two testing trials starting next week of a possible cure from COVID-19 called Aviptadil.
The drug called Aviptadil is a synthetic form of a neuropeptide hormone that works to enable communications between neurons in the human nervous system. Since COVID-19 patients mostly experience difficulty in respiratory function-- which kills diagnosed patients, the substance is expected to be the solution for this problem.
Specifically, Aviptadil is said to cure Acute Respiratory Distress in most coronavirus patients.
There's still no assurance
However, to clarify, both companies reiterated that they still have no assurance that Aviptadil cures Coronavirus. On the other hand, with the help of the go-signal from the FDA, they are now legally capable of testing the substance to COVID-19 patients.
FDA approves distribution of the anti-malarial drug to cure COVID-19
Just like Aviptadil, US FDA also approved other possible Coronavirus cure from the past. The Trump administration, according to the Washington Post, had also given directives from the agency to legally distribute anti-malarial drugs across the country. Drugs, including hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, were part of the distribution.
"It is reasonable to believe that chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine sulfate may be effective in treating covid-19,'' the FDA's chief scientist, Denise Hinton, wrote in the letter granting emergency approval.
However, other health experts expressed their dismay with the FDA. Most of them say that the FDA might be rushing things out by allowing the distribution of 'off-label' drugs for rapid testing without proper studies.
"The concern really is if we're talking millions of patients, then this issue of drug-induced sudden cardiac death is absolutely going to rear its ugly head,'' said Michael Ackerman, a pediatric cardiologist, and professor at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, who last week co-authored a key paper about the risks in response to the surge in the drugs' use.
For now, let's see what will happen.
