Monday, June 29, 2020

Why aren't we hearing more about treatment?

I just have to say something about this, and hopefully it'll be brief. Social media is literally inundated with "mask" talk after reports of COVID-19 numbers have bumped up. Increased testing is only mentioned in hushed tones, and not a peep out of the media on the last few weeks' worth of protests/riots on America's streets. Nope, it's all just somehow happened. And they're conveniently leaving out the drastically reduced mortality rate where possible. Gotta keep that fear factory hummin'!
But past that, out of all the mask talk/discussion/arguments out there, very few conversations seem to be pressing beyond that to discuss a viable treatment, you know, to stop people from dying! We knew there would be waves of this. The point early on was to flatten the curve to ease hospital admittance. We did that; we'll do it again. But what of a treatment NOW?! So I took a look and just wanted to pass this along to viewers, because some of this confirms how many of us suspected things would work out, if you want to call it that...

After it was exposed towards the beginning of June that Lancet relied on falsified virus data to report against the very affordable hydroxychloroquine's effectiveness, data which also steered the WHO and research institutes around the world to halt trials, those trials supposedly resumed. Yet, a mere few weeks later... NIH, WHO And Novartis end hydroxychloroquine trials for COVID-19...?! That quickly? And why exactly?
Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) have halted hydroxychloroquine’s clinical studies conducted to assess the safety and effectiveness of the drug to treat adults with Covid-19 and Novartis, due to its inability to recruit enough patients, ended the Phase III trials of the same drug.

One week before, the FDA had revoked its emergency use authorization (EUA) for hydroxychloroquine due to a randomized controlled clinical trial that showed no clinical benefit and the lack of consistent replication of earlier promising results.

A data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) found that hydroxychloroquine is not beneficial in treating COVID-19, compared to placebo. However, NIH noted that the drug is not harmful.

DSMB recommended the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to halt the study after a fourth interim analysis.

The randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted in more than 500 patients infected with the novel coronavirus, among which 470 were recruited at the time of trial’s closure.

400mg hydroxychloroquine was given twice a day to the participants for two doses, followed by 200mg twice daily for the next eight doses, or a placebo twice daily for five days.

Meanwhile, Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical company suspended the phase III clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine, as the completion of the trial was infeasible due to enrollment challenges.

No conclusions have been made on the efficacy of the drug in treating COVID-19 and no safety issues have been reported, the company noted.

Due to the recruitment challenges, the clinical team was unable to collect meaningful data in a reasonable timeframe to determine the effectiveness of HCQ in treating patients with Covid-19, said Novartis.

However, Novartis will continue to supply HCQ upon government requests and for certain ongoing investigator-initiated trials (IITs).

Since HCQ showed no benefit compared to standard of care in reducing deaths, the World Health Organization also halted the clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine on June 17.
Did you get any sense that this was thorough? But just flush away all those success stories that we've all heard for months coming from medical professionals out of the mainstream who've actually treated successfully with HCQ, because the miracle drug is here...maybe...if you can even afford it! And there's the sticker shock we knew was coming...
The maker of a drug shown to shorten recovery time for severely ill COVID-19 patients says it will charge $2,340 for a typical treatment course for people covered by government health programs in the United States and other developed countries.

Gilead Sciences announced the price Monday for remdesivir, and said the price would be $3,120 for patients with private insurance. The amount that patients pay out of pocket depends on insurance, income and other factors.

...the price was swiftly criticized; a consumer group called it “an outrage” because of the amount taxpayers invested toward the drug’s development.
A $5 drug can't defeat this virus. We MUST have a $3000 one!

Now, don't misunderstand me. I do think it's great if Remdesivir is truly showing success in COVID-19 trials. But it would be helpful to actually HEAR more about that instead of the constant drumbeat of more masks, more distancing, more lockdowns away from our fellow human beings! The media would have us regress, instead of progress (which is ironic).

I guess this is my main takeaway: isn't it just friggin' typical that Big Media works overtime to quash one possible remedy (because Trump touted it), to buy time for Big Pharma to come up with their preferred alternative that'll cost you an arm and a leg?! No wonder they don't want to talk about treatment! Likewise, no wonder so many of us think they're playing politics into November at the expense of American lives.

ADDENDUM: Positive news!
Now if someone can put a muzzle on Fauci's fear factor that incites/excites a rabidly activist lib media!

Related link: THE CORONAVIRUS, TRUMP V. BIDEN & THE DEMOCRATS
Posted by an ebb and flow at 7:55 PM