Covid Science: Experimental prostate cancer drug may improve COVID-19 survival; younger patients report long lasting symptoms

Kintor Pharmaceutical

23/06/2021 19:58

By Nancy Lapid
    June 23 (Reuters) - The following is a roundup of some of
the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and
efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the
illness caused by the virus.

    Prostate cancer drug improves COVID-19 survival in trial
    An experimental prostate cancer drug improved the survival
of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Brazil in a clinical trial,
researchers reported on Tuesday on medRxiv ahead of peer review.
The drug, proxalutamide being developed by Kintor
Pharmaceuticals  9939.HK , blocks the effects of androgen
hormones by inactivating their "receptors" on cell surfaces.
Before the spikes on the surface of the coronavirus can break
into cells and infect them, they must be "primed" by a protein
called TMPRSS2, which is regulated by androgen receptors,
explained study co-author John McCoy of Applied Biology Inc. In
the Brazil trial, 645 hospitalized COVID-19 patients who were
breathing on their own received either proxalutamide for 14 days
or a placebo, plus standard care. After two weeks, recovery
rates were 81.4% for the proxalutamide group versus 35.7% for
those who got a placebo. After four weeks, 49.4% in the placebo
group had died, versus 11% with proxalutamide. Benefits were
similar across genders, even though women might not be expected
to respond to drugs that block male hormones, McCoy said. The
study was done during a COVID-19 surge in a Brazilian state
where the Gamma variant, formerly known as P1 and first
discovered in Brazil, was dominant. The mortality reduction
could be even higher in other settings where infection rates are
lower and that variant is not predominant, said coauthor Dr.
Carlos Gustavo Wambier of the Alpert Medical School of Brown
University. "We still don't know," he said. "Someone has to
initiate an investigation there." (https://bit.ly/3j6WGmX)
    
    Mildly ill young COVID-19 patients report lasting symptoms
    More than half of young adults with mild COVID-19 who
self-isolated at home were still reporting troublesome
after-effects six months later, a study from Norway published on
Wednesday in Nature Medicine found. The study included 312
COVID-19 survivors over age 16, with illnesses of varying
severity. Overall, at six months, 189 patients, or 61%, reported
persistent symptoms. Of the 61 patients between the ages of 16
and 30 who had only been mildly ill, 32 (52%) continued to have
symptoms at six months, including loss of taste and smell (28%),
fatigue (21%), trouble breathing (13%), impaired cognition (13%)
and memory problems (11%). The researchers said their patients'
high rate of persistent fatigue "is striking" and appears higher
than what is usually seen after other common viral infections,
such as influenza, mononucleosis and dengue. "Considering the
millions of young people infected during the ongoing pandemic,"
they conclude, the findings should prompt "population-wide mass
vaccination" and other infection control measures. (https://go.nature.com/3xL7VFF)
   
    Worrisome Delta variant becoming dominant in U.S.
    The highly transmissible coronavirus variants first
identified in India and Brazil, now known as Delta and Gamma,
respectively, are quickly displacing the Alpha (UK) variant as
the most common in the United States, according to a large new
study of positive COVID-19 tests from across the country. The
percentage of COVID-19 cases due to Alpha dropped from 70% in
mid-April 2021 to 42% just 6 weeks later, researchers from
Helix, a California-based genomics company, reported in a paper
posted on Monday on medRxiv ahead of peer review. The Gamma and
Delta variants were "the primary drivers for this displacement,"
the researchers said. The growth rate of Delta is higher than
that of Gamma and is particularly high in counties with
vaccination rates below 28.5%, they found. Delta has been widely
reported to be even more transmissible than Alpha and to cause
more severe disease and hospitalizations. "The expectation is
that (Delta) will soon be the dominant variant in the United
States," the authors said.  (https://bit.ly/3x45vBW)
    
    Open https://tmsnrt.rs/3c7R3Bl in an external browser for a
Reuters graphic on vaccines in development.

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Tracking the vaccine race    http://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/VACCINE-TRACKER/xegpbqnlovq/
COVID-19 Vaccination tracker    https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/vaccination-rollout-and-access/
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 (Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
 ((Nancy.Lapid@thomsonreuters.com))