When famotidine went out of stock in US, and Remdesivir is yet to deliver!
The US scientists picked up the lead from a reported Chinese finding
that some elderly people who were routinely taking famotidine
survived coronavirus infection. No sooner than Feinstein Institutes
for Medical Research at Northwell Health, New York, said that their
trial was nearing completion and they were hopeful, the antacid, already ruling high after the zantac debacle and appearing on the FDA short list, now again disappeared from the pharma shelves for a second time.
NEW DELHI, May 8: Helpless in the absence of a medicine to beat the
new viral infection engulfing the world like a firestorm, people are ready to
consume anything that the rumour mills are churning out for coronavirus (covid). Even scientists and
doctors are trying to repurpose various existing medicines, throwing to the
winds even the basic norms and ethics that govern the practice of science and
medicine. They were trained in the nursery how not to see anything that is not
on the table and not to make guineapigs of innocent human beings. With the result,
till the other day it used to take anything around 20 years for a vaccine or
drug to be pushed into the market.
Now with the outbreak of the new coronavirus that has made the whole world
its killing field, repurposing existing drugs and finding host-based management
like vaccines and plasma treatment in month's time is justifiably the order
of the day.
In India, lopinavir-ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine, mycobacterium, disulfiram,
resveratrol, remdesivir, plasma therapy have reportedly been tried to face
the rapidly evolving challenge of a global emergency.
In the US, when the epidemic started sweeping the country by the middle of March, many experts and others suggested all sorts of remedies and drugs. Research was put on fast-forward for virus-targeted as well as host-based solutions. That was when even the President himself batted for hydroxychloroquine and in turn received brickbats from his political enemies that the realtor was canvassing business for a European pharma
firm which proved otherwise when he purchased his own prescription drug from
India in bulk after cajoling Modi into sharing some stocks.
Then came Gilead's repurposing drug, Remdesivir, which they projected as a
breakout success. After much discussion at the White House and FDA approval,
now there is a pause! It has started production although it is still described
as in experimental stage. Japan has approved the drug with that limitation.
After hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir now comes the news that researchers
at Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health, New Hyde Park,
New York, are in the final stage of declaring the efficacy of the simple famotidine,
administered in intravenous doses to over a 1,000 coronavirus patients in trial
since April 7. And the pepcid stocks have now disappeared from pharma shelves!
The hint for the US scientists had come from a reported Chinese finding that
some elederly people who were taking routinely famotidine survived the viral
attack. It would not occur to the Chinese that the other way round could also
have been a possibility.
All said and done, coronavirus is not taking down the global economy, at least
for the health sector.
Five people were arrested from a banquet hall in Sector 51 Noida on Thursday
where they were called to hold a rave party in a trap laid by the animal
rights group, PFA. They named Yadav but he was not present.
Betting through Dubai-based Mahadev Book in India is conducted through a countrywide network. Probes reveal that the online gambling is worth several millions and top politicians, officials and celebs have been beneficiaries.
TAILPIECE: Polling dates for some States are round the corner. Top
politicians have begun their acrimonious debate who looted more, even as
Mahadev is washing their dirty laundry in the open ghat. Come what may,
one needs to seize power to amass "thy wretched pelf!" One simple
question is, why else one should spend lakhs or crores to get elected! A
question every Indian should ask to oneself at least once a day!
His inaction amounts to defeating the rights of the people of the State to
welfare measures sought to be implemented through the Bills, the Kerala
Government's petition submitted, while the State of Tamil Nadu remarked
that its "Governor is acting as a political rival."
Tailpiece: Coming up back to back, the petitions in their totality seem to question the provision of Raj Bhavan, and not motives of a Governor as a
person.
Hundreds of cars piled up behind the wreckage of crashes occurring one
after other in backing up - continuous crashes to the rhythm of metallic
clanks and bangs back to back. According to reports, some ops required
'Jaws of Life' to pull apart the mangled cars to save lives inside.
The pilots struggled with Emerson to thwart a shut-off as he reached for
the T-handles (see pix). Later he admitted to police he had taken
psychedelic mushrooms and had a "nervous breakdown."
Doctors reasoned how the incidence of heart attacks is spiking over time and
advise the simple way to play safely is to take a break and rehydrate
yourself.
But how come ten people, including children, die of cardiac arrest at
Garba in 24 hours, and that at different places of Gujarat? Garba had been going on
for six days, and every year it is celebrated.
Shocking news from the UK: Leading grocers have started bribing policemen with free food and drinks to persuade them to take action against shoplifters.
Shoplifting has risen by about 27 per cent in 10 major cities across the UK
this year. The cost of retail crime last year was $2.15 billion. Besides, “We
are seeing organised gangs threatening staff with weapons and emptying
stores," Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium,
said. Data shows that the police failed to respond to 73 per cent of serious
retail crimes that included assault and abuse of workers, apart from
shoplifting.
Harris said hip-hop is “the ultimate American art form” that “shapes every
aspect of American popular culture.” “Hip-hop culture is American
culture,” she said in a talk at her official residence at the US Naval
Observatory in Washington, D.C.
The social media had mixed reaction. There was much appreciation that
she dances better than any VP in American history. But some called her
"moves" as “cringe” while others did not like her pink pants - "pink pants
don’t look good.” In fact, her ensembles have always been incongruous.
"Let’s see how the (Governor's) Vice-Chancellors are given salary."
Mamata's extreme statements will put the Marxist Government in Kerala,
which is also facing similar issues, to shame. Has she begun the
countdown for a war on the streets?
It's true Mamata has come to see a conspiracy to demolish the established systems across the country, but lacks the ability to foresee what exactly is being pushed.
Brandishing a sword, Mahant Paramhans told reporters on Tuesday he
himself will behead MK Stalin's son for his remarks against Sanatan
Dharma in case nobody came forward to accept his offer he made in his
video. Udhayanidhi reacted to the saint's Monday video, "I will speak
more. I am the grandson of the artist who put his head on the rail track for
Tamil Nadu."
Somanath elaborated, "I am an explorer. I explore the Moon. I explore the inner
space. So it's a part of the journey of my life to explore both science and
spirituality. So I visit many temples and I read many scriptures. So try to find the
meaning of our existence and our journey in this cosmos. So it's a part of the
culture that we are all built to explore, find out the inner self as well as outer
self. So for the outer, I do science, for the inner I come to temples." (See videos)
Rao the mathematical legend had fathered the path-breaking Rao-Blackwell
theorem, one of the most important theorems in mathematical statistics, at the
age of 25. That brought him global fame. He is also famous for his Cramér-Rao
Bound inequality theorem relating to quality of estimators in statistics which has
had a profound bearing on applications of modern economics and several other
diverse fields. Simply put, with the pioneering statistician computation became a
tool to analyse even socio-economic challenges of modern times.
The alleged incident has received such a flash publicity that a standardised
city's hugely middle class population will have second thoughts about eating
outside for some time. Now everything on the table looks suspicious!
“All subjects directly connected to the people should be shifted to the State List. Particularly the subject of education. Only if this is done can cruel exams like NEET be abolished,” Stalin said. Education was moved from the State List to the Concurrent List with the 42nd Constitution Amendment made by the Central Government in 1976.
Decentralisation has been at the core of Tamil politics since the times of CN Annadurai. Stalin indicated there will be political changes in the offing.
TAILPIECE: While the Centre and the States are at loggerheads, it takes a
different cognitive acumen to know that entrance tests are not the way for
students' admission to courses.
As recently as Tuesday Craig Robertson had posted on Facebook: "Perhaps
Utah will become famous this week as the place a sniper took out Biden the
Marxist." Biden was scheduled to make his first visit to Utah as President
Wednesday afternoon.
Maruti is recalling 87,599 S-Presso and Eeco vehicles to inspect and possibly
replace parts in the steering system. All reputed companies around the
world do recall their products when a defect comes to light.
Meanwhile, a question arises why just in about a year so many accidents have
taken place involving Mercedes sent to India while the car has won safety awards
abroad? In most cases, the vehicle collided with divider, while manoeuvring a
turn. Was there a split second delay in the steering system coming to a grip
when at high speed? Did anybody in India bother to study a pattern in several
of these accidents that took place one after other?
Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry died when his Mercedes-Benz-SUV hit
a divider in Gujarat. Cricketer Rishabh Pant's Mercedes-Benz-SUV rammed a divider
in Uttarakhand and smashed. It went up in flames but he escaped with injuries.
Brother of PM Narendra Modi, Prahlad Modi's Mercedes-Benz-SUV met with a similar
accident in Mysuru. And many more.
Experts blame violation of the Visual Flying Rules (VFR) for most of the
chopper crashes in the mountains as the leading cause. VFR means fly only
visually - because of the lack of navigation aids in remote areas or unreliability
of GPS-like aids in hilly terrains or a remote manipulation of instruments
in cases of sabotage - as the topography plays havoc especially in the monsoon
(mid-June to September).
Even when VFR is followed, most crashes occur due to CFIT (Controlled Flight
into Terrain) - that is, everything else is OK but the aircraft collides with
hills or trees hidden by the clouds. This also occurs mostly in the monsoon.
On Tueday with Manang, the chopper was brand new, pilot was highly experienced.
But it hit an 'invisible' tree and then crashed against a hillside. This
CFIT occurred when the pilot tried to dodge patches of clouds even as he was
following the VFR.
Simply put, everyone knows flying in the hills during the monsoon is risky,
but the companies want to make more money in any which case. This type of
tragedy is very frequently invited in the Indian hill State of Uttarakhand
as well, where pilots are even made to fly without the mandatory rest.
