Today is Day 14 of the not-lockdown in Singapore, and we have now reached the halfway mark. Global infection stands at 2,414,612 with 165,174 deaths. Singapore has 8,014 infections and 11 deaths.
Just today alone, there were 1,426 new infections, more than the total number of infections 14 days ago.
The majority of the new infections in the past two weeks have been from outbreaks in worker dormitories that house the more than 300,000 migrant workers in Singapore. Things are not looking good.
Reuters has recently compiled a list of on-going global efforts in finding effective treatments and vaccines against Covid-19. It provides a useful reference and gives a good stock-take of current activity.
It’s a long article, but it provides summaries and links to external sources for additional information. The simple filter functionality is also quite useful in allowing readers to zoom in on areas of interest.
Here’s a table compiled from information in that article listing 12 candidate drug and non-drug treatments.
| Name | Status | Early Results | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remdesivir | Repurposed Experimental | 0-3 Months | Antiviral drug to combat RNA viruses |
| Kaletra (Lopinavir / Ritonavir) | Repurposed | 0-3 Months | Antiviral combination used to treat and prevent HIV infections |
| Hydroxychloroquine / Chloroquine | Repurposed | 0-3 Months | Malaria drug believed to have antiviral activity |
| Actemra (Tocilizumab) | Repurposed | 0-3 Months | Monoclonal antibody approved for rheumatoid arthritis and treatment of cytokine storm in cancer patients |
| Kevzara (Sarilumab) | Repurposed | 0-3 Months | Monoclonal antibody approved for inflammatory arthritis, and in trials to treat cytokine storm in Covid-19 patients |
| Jakavi (Ruxolitinib) | Repurposed | 0-3 Months | Developed to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, and in trials to treat cytokine storm in Covid-19 patients |
| Convalescent Plasma (non-drug) | – | 0-3 Months | Blood plasma from recovered Covid-19 patients transfused into sick patients, in the hope that freshly-made antibodies will help fight virus |
| NKG2D-ACE2 CAR-NK Cells (non-drug) | Experimental | 0-3 Months | NKG2D receptor for the immune system’s natural killer (NK) cells paired with the ACE-2 receptor that the virus uses to enter human cells |
| RhACE2 APN01 | Experimental | 3-6 Months | Synthetic version of human protein that virus uses to enter cells tested to see if it can block viral entry and decrease viral replication |
| Camostat Mesylate | Repurposed | 6-12 Months | Protease inhibitor licensed to treat chronic pancreatitis. In vitro experiments found it blocks a mechanism virus uses to enter human cells |
| IFX-1 | Experimental | 6-12 Months | Monoclonal antibody targeting complement activation product C5a, designed to block a mechanism of inflammation |
| Aspirin, Clopidogrel, Rivaroxaban, Atorvastatin, Omeprazole | – | 9-12 Months | Trial of cardioprotective drugs to prevent direct damage to the heart muscle that appears to drive severity of certain Covid-19 patients |
And here’s a similar table focusing on seven candidate vaccines.
| Name | Status | Early Results | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| mRNA 1273 | Experimental | 0-3 Months | RNA vaccine made with mRNA encoding spike protein of virus encapsulated in a lipid nanoparticle; Moderna project |
| NVX-CoV2373 | Experimental | 0-3 Months | Matrix-M adjuvant used with vaccine candidate to enhance immune responses |
| Lentiviral Minigene (LV-SMENP) | Experimental | 3-6 Months | Engineered minigenes encoding viral antigens; lentiviral vector designed to infect dendritic and T cells to induce immunity |
| BCG Tuberculosis Vaccine | Repurposed | 3-6 Months | Vaccine that induces broad immune-system response, shown to protect against other respiratory pathogens |
| INO-4800 | Experimental | 3-6 Months | DNA plasmid vaccine delivered into skin via patch electroporation device; Inovio project funded by CEPI |
| AD5-nCov | Experimental | 6-12 Months | Non-replicating viral vector; recombinant vaccine that uses another respiratory virus (adenovirus) as a vector |
| ChAdOx1 | Experimental | 12-18 Months | Non-replicating chimpanzee adenovirus vector |
Things are going to get worse, before they start getting better. But for now, we can all do our part to flatten the curve, and wait until safe and effective treatments and vaccines are found.
