Things continue to change very quickly on the frontlines.
Dr. Zelenko’s (Jewish doctor in NY) cocktail of three cheap, proven and widely available drugs has now been used to treat 699 patients in the greater New York area. This out-patient treatment consists of the common anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine with the popular antibotic azithromycin (known as Z-Pak) and zinc sulfate. Doses of vitamin C have been added to the treatment.
To date only four patients have needed hospitalization. Other doctors in the NY metropolitan area who have decided to try this treatment regimen are reporting similar results.
What many people may not understand is that there are two distinct diseases at work. The first is COVID-19 (Wuhan Flu). The second is ARDS, acute respiratory distress syndrome. ARDS is the affliction that requires the use of hospital beds and ventilators.
Zelenko’s treatment does not work on ARDS. However, it has a 99% chance at this point of preventing ARDS.
Zelenko noted,
“I’m seeing respiratory symptoms resolve as fast as four hours. That’s not the norm. It takes 12 hours on average, in my experience.”
This is the treatment that the governors of Michigan and Nevada have decided is too risky for their citizens because there is no consensus that it works.
In New York Governor Cuomo has limited the treatment to the hospitals who are part of a hospital clinical trial. Keeping people out of the hospital is apparently not what Governor Cuomo wants. Why?
In Michigan Governor Whitmer has threatened to take away the license of any doctor or pharmacist who prescribes these drugs for this affliction. She has also called on the medical community to report any doctor or pharmacist who does so. How totalitarian can one get?
Keep in mind that these drugs have been used for decades to fight other diseases. Their profile is well known. Their side effects are well known. These are not new drugs. Off label uses of well tolerated drugs are a common practice and legal.
Sunday evening the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency-use authorization for two antimalarial drugs to combat the virus. In addition to helping to cure patients and preventing hospitalization, anecdotal evidence is strongly suggesting that the infectious period is being reduced. This appears to be the result of quickly reducing viral loads in an afflicted person.
The Department of Health and Human Services said it had received 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate donated by Sandoz and 1 million doses of chloroquine phosphate donated by Bayer Pharmaceuticals for the national stockpile of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies.
On the testing front the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization to Abbott Labs on Friday for a five-minute coronavirus test that could be arriving to the nation’s urgent care clinics as early as next week. The Illinois-based manufacturer said it expects the equipment to deliver up to 50,000 tests per day and will be ramping up manufacturing in the coming weeks, according to USA Today.
Improvements in the speed of testing are coming on many fronts. This should be a game-changer in the fight against the virus. No longer would one have to wait days for the results. The ability to quickly identify whether someone has the virus can provide earlier treatment and better targeted efforts on sequestering the spread of the virus.
The speed with which treatment regimens and testing methods are being developed is a testament to the strength of capitalism. Figuratively, this is light speed for the FDA. Companies are working feverishly to be the first with a great product. That’s the nature of capitalism.
This crisis demonstrates American exceptionalism at work. America will find solutions faster than anywhere else in the world. We will prevail over the affliction.
This crisis also exposes the weakness of Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-all system. Sanders’ socialized healthcare system would never be able to do things quickly. Committees tasked with fighting the virus would still be bogged down holding meetings on how to proceed. Under socialized medicine the people tasked with fighting the virus would be political appointees. These would not be the right people nor the best people to fight the disease. These appointees would not want to stick their necks out to support a potential solution that might not work. There is no incentive to do so. That’s the nature of socialized medicine. One only has to look at the old Soviet Union‘s health care system to see this.
Of course, none of the success we are seeing would have been possible without PDJT, working with the FDA and the CDC, clearing away unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles and delays.
Thank you, America. Thank you, President Trump.