Pharmaceutical innovation is a boon to society — if the fruits of that innovation make it in the hands of the people needing them. That hasn’t been the case with some of the lifesaving medicines developed to treat COVID-19, despite President Joe Biden’s promises earlier this year to make the drugs widely available. As the pandemic continues to wreak global devastation without a clear end in sight, the lack of accessible antiviral treatments is yet another example of how the White House has failed to stop the virus’ spread or mitigate its impacts — particularly among the elderly and otherwise immunocompromised. As Zeynep Tufekci notes in a New York Times opinion piece we highlight below, “Under these political conditions, rescue may not be on its way for a long time, if ever.”
Read all about it in this week’s Weekend Reader, exclusively for supporting subscribers below.
"Covid Drugs Save Lives, But Americans Can’t Get Them" (New York Times)
This article didn't even bother to mention Fluvoxamine. Way back in August, the TOGETHER RCT found it reduced hospitalization by about 30% (90% in per-protocol sub-group"), It's been used for decades, is cheap, and has a proven safety record. This drug is being used by John Hopkins University and MacMaster University. Yet, the NIH/FDA/ISDA refuses to move on it's EUA. Perhaps because there's no money in it for the pharma companies?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/health/covid-ivermectin-hospitalization.html
"In one round of the trial, the researchers found promising evidence that an antidepressant drug called fluvoxamine reduced the need for hospitalization by one-third. The researchers published their results in October in The Lancet Global Health."