The BriefEconomic Reopening Begins, as Two Promising Drugs Suffer Setbacks
Five things, among many others, caught our eye this week: On Saturday, the number of worldwide coronavirus deaths passed 205,000, with the U.S. death toll reaching 55,094; European governments outlined their plans for reopening their economy, and several have started on the process of going back to normal, or, rather, the new normal; the FDA issued a stern warning that hydroxychloroquinea, alone or in combination with azithromycin – touted by President Trump as “game changers” — should not be used to treat COVID-19 outside of a hospital or formal clinical trial; a similar disappointment befell the antiviral medicine remdesivir from Gilead Sciences, which failed to speed the improvement of patients with COVID-19 or prevent them from dying; the Justice Department got a court order to stop a Florida church from selling on its website an industrial bleach which the church marketed as a miracle treatment for the virus – the DOJ move came a few days before last Thursday’s White House briefing, in which Trump mused about whether household disinfectant injections or ingestion could be effective in treating the coronavirus.
Here are five things, among many others, we noted this past week:
· As of Saturday, the number of worldwide coronavirus deaths passed 205,000, with the U.S. death toll reaching 55,094. More than 2.9 million people around the world – of which 980,784 are in the United States — have been infected with the virus.
· European governments outlined their plans for reopening their economy, and several have started on the process of going back to normal, or, rather, the new normal. One of the key differences among the various plans: whether, and up to what grade, should schools be allowed to open.
· A few weeks ago, President Donald Trump began to promote the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquinea, alone or in combination with azithromycin (what is called Z-Pak), as a “game changer” in the fight against the coronavirus. On Friday, the FDA issued a stern warning that the two drugs should not be used to treat COVID-19 outside of a hospital or formal clinical trial, citing reports of “serious heart rhythm problems,” other serious side effects, and even deaths in the largest-to-date trials of the two drugs.
· A similar disappointment befell the antiviral medicine remdesivir from Gilead Sciences, which failed to speed the improvement of patients with COVID-19 or prevent them from dying, according to results from a long-awaited clinical trial conducted in China.
· A month ago, Attorney General William Barr instructed federal prosecutors across the country to aggressively investigate and prosecute scams and other crimes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Justice Department, for example, got a court order to stop a Florida church from selling on its website an industrial bleach which the church marketed as a miracle treatment for the virus. The move came a few days before last Thursday’s White House briefing, in which Trump mused about whether household disinfectant injections or ingestion could be effective in treating the coronavirus.
