On Monday we learnt from Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s Chief Scientific Adviser that Coronavirus will likely under no circumstances disappear and a vaccine won’t quit it entirely. He also stated that ministers and experts should really cease ‘over-promising’ and be realistic about the prospects of a vaccine and the most likely timeline of a single, unlikely ahead of spring next year.
He then echoed his earlier warnings and those of his colleague Professor Chris Whitty that the COVID-19 fight will be a extended a single, and it will be with us for excellent.
So, from this ought to we assume there is no ‘silver bullet’ for COVID-19 infections?
What if there were a single treatment that:
could cease the infection in its tracks,
was anti-inflammatory controlling the immune system’s response to the infection and stopping it from overreacting dangerously,
in circumstances where patients developed secondary bacterial infections in the lungs could supercharge antibiotics boosting their efficacy and eve,
was a repurposed drug already proven as safe
was straightforward to make, scalable at the level expected to make a distinction in the pandemic and was expense productive, then wouldn’t that be one thing we really should all be having excited about?
Certainly although no such ‘silver bullet’ game changing therapy exists? After all, the only treatments we hear about for COVID are those which President Trump took, which have been either very new, costly and experimental or have a incredibly narrow application to a distinct aspect of the illness.
Nicely, you heard it here very first – such a ‘silver bullet’ therapy does exist nowadays. It’s named Nylexa®, from the tiny UK biotech organization NovaBiotics Ltd. It is active ingredients have been safely utilized in medicines that treat unrelated conditions for more than 30 years.
NovaBiotics found Nylexa’s possible advantages in COVID-19 following a decade of study in difficult to treat, drug-resistant infections, which includes the complicated chest infections and inflammation related with cystic fibrosis (CF) lung illness. In March they applied for a £1m grant from Innovate UK (representing the government) to start off clinical research. That grant was ultimately awarded earlier this month, and the government are now considering no matter whether or not to contain Nylexa on two separate NHS platform studies.
But why, I hear you ask, if this is so great have we not heard about it ahead of? Why are the government and the press not shouting about this from the rooftops? Why is this not getting demanded by clinicians desperate for effective remedies for their individuals?
I am afraid to say, it all boils down to cash. Little biotech companies discover it challenging to get consideration as they never have the resources readily available to their larger greater funded rivals. The names we read about consistently when it comes to ground breaking new treatments are invariably massive multi-national pharmaceutical organizations with deep pockets and major budgets to market their personal particular wares. They make sure their drugs get the necessary consideration. NovaBiotics is a modest private corporation funded by a group of loyal and supportive shareholders so unfortunately never have the sources to compete for consideration with the huge boys.
Which is why this scenario is so frustrating. In mitigating the overall health consequences of contracting COVID-19, Nylexa® could raise public self-assurance of living with the virus for the longer term and potentially enable a higher degree of normality to return to the way in which we reside, benefiting the economy directly in addition to easing COVID-19’s burden on the NHS and healthcare systems globally. But getting dan stock and women in positions of influence to take notice amongst all the others competing for their interest is quite challenging indeed.
It is reported that there are thousands of potential COVID-19 treatment options in clinical trials across the world. I would challenge any person to show me 1 which has the exact same prospective for optimistic impact as Nylexa®, but this is not at present aspect of any trial, in spite of its impeccable credentials. So come on UK Government, and ministers, get your finger out and get this drug into trials quickly. The sooner it gets tested, the sooner it can be utilised to enable sort out the mess the pandemic has caused to all our lives.
About NovaBiotics Ltd
NovaBiotics Ltd is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the design and style and development of 1st-in-class therapies for challenging-to-treat, medically unmet infectiousdiseases triggered by bacteria and fungi and respiratory situations including cystic fibrosis and COVID-19.
A top innovator in the anti-infectives space, the Company’s robust technology and organization model has been validated via prosperous development, from concept to late stage clinical development, of its most advanced product candidates. In addition to the lead Nylexa® programme and the Company’s other late-stage assets (Lynovex® for cystic fibrosis, NP213/Novexatin® for onychomycosis), NovaBiotics has generated a robust pipeline of earlier stage, higher-worth drug candidates such as NP339 (Department of Overall health and Social Care funded programme) for life threatening, drug resistant invasive fungal illness and NP432 for multi- drug resistant bacterial infections.