Solving COVID: June 17, 2020

1. Researchers say new COVID-19 treatment is a 'major breakthrough'

Researchers say COVID-19 patients can be effectively treated with a cheap, widely available steroid called dexamethasone. On Tuesday, researchers in the U.K. announced they had found that the steroid treatment cuts the risk of death by a third for patients who are on ventilators, and by a fifth for patients receiving oxygen. There was no benefit to patients who did not require respiratory support, meaning the treatment should be focused on patients who are moderately to severely sick with COVID-19. Dexamethasone is already used to treat arthritis and asthma, among other conditions. Research suggests it could be used for patients in intensive care, while another drug, remdesivir, could also be used to reduce recovery time for less-severe patients. Experts told BBC dexamethasone is a "major breakthrough."

BBC

2. French lab goes to market with quick, painless COVID-19 saliva test

The French company Sys2Diag is selling a COVID-19 test that its creators say generates results within an hour. The test, EasyCov, requires a few drops of saliva collected by the user, placed in a test tube and analyzed on-site using a portable kit. "This allows for massive, rapid, painless, and more reactive tests," lead researcher Franck Molina tells Le Parisien. He suggested it would be useful for sports teams, airports, dentists, firefighters, among others. EasyCov looks for RNA of the new coronavirus in the saliva sample, then translates the RNA into DNA, which the test can detect after the sample is heated to 65 degrees Celsius (150 degrees Fahrenheit). The results are displayed with colors: red for positive, yellow for negative. Sys2Diag is producing 200,000 kits each week. Preliminary studies show that the test is as accurate as conventional COVID-19 tests, and false positives are very low, according to the clinical researchers at Montpellier University Hospital.

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Le Parisien Montpellier University Hospital

3. An experimental drug might prevent COVID-19 blood clots

One third of hospitalized coronavirus patients develop dangerous blood clots, and scientists at Britain's Imperial College London hypothesize that the clots are a byproduct of a hormonal imbalance caused by an enzyme the coronavirus deactivates to invade cells. The researchers are preparing a clinical trial to see if the experimental drug TRV027, made by Trevena, can fix that imbalance. The trial begins next month, with about 60 patients getting either TRVO27 or a placebo. Another theory behind the clotting is that the virus causes inflammation in the blood vessels' lining, called the "endothelium." In children, the endothelium "is set up perfectly and then just deteriorates with age," says Paul Monagle, a pediatric hematologist at the Melbourne Children's Campus. This may explain why kids seem to avoid many of the most severe COVID-19 complications. "If we understand what happens to children, we could tweak adults to make them more child-like," Monagle says.

BBC Nature

4. Scientists test promising treatments for deadly 'cytokine storms'

Some of the worst cases of COVID-19 involve patients who appear to get better then suddenly deteriorate, their organs failing under an overwhelming immune response called a "cytokine storm." Researchers are starting trials on several drugs to prevent or pacify cytokine storms. In China and Italy, doctors had some success with a drug called tocilizumab, which blocks the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6). Another drug, Kineret, blocks a different cytokine, IL-1. A recent study published in the journal Science Immunology reported promising preliminary results from an AstraZeneca cancer drug called acalabrutinib, which aims to stop the cytokines at their root. Others have reported some success with a dialysis-like device called CytoSorb that filters out cytokines from a patient's blood and returns them to the body. "It has become increasingly clear in the past few months that, at least in a subset of people who have the virus, calming the storm is the key to survival," The New York Times reports.

The New York Times Science Immunology

5. Moderna to start phase 3 testing of vaccine candidate in July

Moderna has finalized the protocol for the third phase of testing for its potential COVID-19 vaccine, Time reports. Phase three is expected to begin in July and include 30,000 subjects, the company said. Moderna previously announced some "positive" interim data from phase one testing of the vaccine candidate, saying that eight patients developed neutralizing antibodies at levels on par with those who recovered from COVID-19. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called this "really quite promising," although experts are anticipating the release of more data. The company's phase two study is underway. The Food and Drug Administration gave a fast-track designation to Moderna's coronavirus vaccine candidate, and Moderna in its announcement said it "remains on track to be able to deliver approximately 500 million doses per year, and possibly up to one billion doses per year, beginning in 2021."

Time