New York clinical trial quietly tests heartburn remedy against coronavirus

[jmyrlefuller]

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/new-york-clinical-trial-quietly-tests-heartburn-remedy-against-coronavirus

by Brendan Borrell
April 26, 2020

The fast-growing list of possible treatments for the novel coronavirus includes an unlikely candidate: famotidine, the active compound in the over-the-counter heartburn drug Pepcid. On 7 April, the first COVID-19 patients at Northwell Health in the New York City area began receiving famotidine intravenously, at nine times the heartburn dose. Unlike other drugs the 23-hospital system is testing, including Regeneron’s sarilumab and Gilead Science’s remdesivir, Northwell kept the famotidine study under wraps to secure a research stockpile before other hospitals, or even the federal government, started buying it. “If we talked about this to the wrong people or too soon, the drug supply would be gone,” says Kevin Tracey, a former neurosurgeon in charge of the hospital system’s research.

(excerpt)

[PeteS in CA]

Is this the same skilled nursing facility into which the State of NY dumped Covid-19 patients?

ETA: no, it isn't.

[libertybele]

More and more it seems like doctors are throwing anything and everything at this virus -- are these meds working or is it the fact that people are eventually recovering at the same time doctors are giving up and throwing some kind of remedy at them?

[jmyrlefuller]

More and more it seems like doctors are throwing anything and everything at this virus -- are these meds working or is it the fact that people are eventually recovering at the same time doctors are giving up and throwing some kind of remedy at them?

In regard to this drug, it appears to have been prompted by a coincidence observed in China, as the article describes.

The reality is that when dealing with treating an unknown virus, there's a lot of guesswork—and the fact that we're trying a lot of different approaches is good. Pepcid is another one of those drugs that is cheap and readily available; it's even over-the-counter here in America. So if that one works beyond that of a placebo, that might be even better news than if HCQ/zinc works.

There are still over 10,000 people in the hospital with this virus right now in New York. They make a natural testing ground for a virus with no proven treatment. So yes, there is going to be a lot of throwing things against the wall, looking at what little evidence we do have, and seeing what sticks.

[Smokin Joe]

In regard to this drug, it appears to have been prompted by a coincidence observed in China, as the article describes.

The reality is that when dealing with treating an unknown virus, there's a lot of guesswork—and the fact that we're trying a lot of different approaches is good. Pepcid is another one of those drugs that is cheap and readily available; it's even over-the-counter here in America. So if that one works beyond that of a placebo, that might be even better news than if HCQ/zinc works.

There are still over 10,000 people in the hospital with this virus right now in New York. They make a natural testing ground for a virus with no proven treatment. So yes, there is going to be a lot of throwing things against the wall, looking at what little evidence we do have, and seeing what sticks.

So The Empire State has become the Lab Rat State.

I would just like to see them do an honest assessment of Zelenko's regimen (Hydroxychloroquine/Azithromycin/Zinc Sulfate) as he laid it out, instead of waiting until patients were on vent and leaving part of the regimen out.
The cost should be well under $100, no IV required, 5 days of pills and done.

[LegalAmerican]

So The Empire State has become the Lab Rat State.

I would just like to see them do an honest assessment of Zelenko's regimen (Hydroxychloroquine/Azithromycin/Zinc Sulfate) as he laid it out, instead of waiting until patients were on vent and leaving part of the regimen out.
The cost should be well under $100, no IV required, 5 days of pills and done.