PANDEMIC REPORT: Molnupiravir trial | $36.3M for vaccine research | New treatments
Twice-daily pill to treat COVID
CHAPEL HILL, NC—Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say a twice-daily pill – molnupiravir – could change the way COVID-19 is treated. Strong clinical trial results showed the experimental antiviral drug reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with coronavirus. Merck Co. is seeking emergency authorization for the drug by the Food and Drug Administration.
3 COVID treatment drugs being studied
FRANKLIN, TN—Clinical Trials Center of Middle Tennessee is participating in a study conducted around the country with the goal of compiling data on three medications to determine if they can help treat COVID-19 symptoms. The drugs include the inhaled steroid Fluticasone, the anti-depressant Fluvoxamine, or a safe dose of Ivermectin.
$36.3 million toward more vaccine research
MADISON, WI AND DURHAM, NC—The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded approximately $36.3 million to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Duke University, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston to conduct research to develop vaccines to protect against multiple types of coronaviruses and viral variants. The new awards build on the $1.2 billion investment NIAID has made in coronavirus vaccine research since the pandemic began.
COVID and bone loss
INDIANAPOLIS, IN—Researchers in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine, with support from the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Indianapolis, have discovered that SARS-CoV-2 can cause quick and significant bone loss—even when infections are mild.