Convalescent plasma therapy is still an effective option for treatment of severe COVID-19 cases.

https://www.pnas.org/content/117/17/9490

Dear Rine C. Reuben,

Currently, in some countries, drugs that improve breathing and decongest breathing have been used for years to treat severe Covid-19 disease. Some of these drugs significantly improve the breathing of people seriously ill with Covid-19 disease, which results in an increase in the rate of recovery by about 30-40%. and a much smoother transition of Covid-19 disease.

Best wishes,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

There are promising baseline data on potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro.

Dariusz Prokopowicz

"... drugs that improve breathing and decongest breathing have been used for years to treat severe Covid-19 disease ." But covid-19 emerged in 2019, so I wonder how best to believe your " used for years to treat severe Covid-19 disease". However, these drugs are mainly for covid-19 management not treatment ok. Can we have specific therapeutics for covid-19?

Federico Di Lello

Thanks for your response. SO, if these inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro are promising, why is modern science putting more pressure in vaccines while turning a blind eye to " potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 ".

dear all the novelty is the biopharmaco exo-cd24 developped in israel, prevents the cytokine storm that kills people. promising

Please see the links below.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7434458/

https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(20)32506-6/fulltext

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30464-8/fulltext

Dear Rine C. Reuben,

Yes, the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic has been occurring since March 2020, but some medications to improve breathing have been in use for several years when the Coronavirus was not yet available. In that sense, I wrote my previous comment.

Have a nice day, Stay healthy! Best wishes,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Dariusz Prokopowicz Thanks for the clarification.

There are four levels of prevention in the case of communicable and non-communicable diseases. These four levels for COVID-19 can be summarized as:

1. Primordial prevention: raising public awareness, e.g., wearing masks, etc.

2. Primary prevention; the cornerstone of which are vaccines.

3. Secondary prevention; which is concerned with the process of treatment, in other words, administration of therapeutic agents.

4. Tertiary prevention; aimed at rehabilitation of the patients who have recovered from the disease.

Primary prevention is by far the most important, particularly in developing countries with high levels of illiteracy, where primordial prevention can often fail.

Apart from vaccines, scientists are actively working on repurposing of already available drugs, or development of new ones.

PDE5 inhibitors, such as sildenafil and tadalafil, have been approved by the FDA since the early 2000s for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Nonetheless, they also appear to have potential therapeutic implications in the case of COVID-19, too. Apparently, PDE5 inhibitors work by targeting the SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, and thus, inhibiting viral replication.

Article Targeting the SARS-CoV-2 3CL pro and NO/cGMP/PDE5 pathway in...

Thanks Milad Shirvaliloo for the response and also the article.

Also, see the RG links below.

Article Mesenchymal stem cells as a potential therapy for COVID-19

Article Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) as a Potential Therapeutic Str...

To date, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has only fully approved one treatment, intravenous remdesivir, for hospitalized patients. The FDA has also approved other intravenous therapies including convalescent plasma; a monoclonal antibody drug called bamlanivimab; and a cocktail of the monoclonal antibodies casirivimab and imdevimab for outpatient care under emergency use authorization (EUA).

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vaccines-alone-are-not-enough-to-beat-covid/

Thanks Fahmida Begum Mina

Most of these treatment options you've stated are still controversial and not conventionally accepted, and also they are used on high class patients. My argument is simple: As long as increase attention are focused on vaccines, why is science not putting in same energy on non-vaccine therapeutic?

How's BD? I did my PhD in BD, Jashore University of Science and Technology.

Yes, Dr. Rine C. Ruben, I got the point of your argument. As we all know, there is a definite need for the vaccine to combat SARS-CoV-2, science is more focused on developing vaccine. And, as I've mentioned there are off label drugs and other repurposable drugs undergone various clinical trials as potential therapeutic against COVID-19 and also got approval for use among specific categories of patients for better outcomes.

Similarly, scientists have also considered inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro treatment, convalescent plasma therapy, monoclonal antibodies, phytochemicals etc. as therapeutic target against SARS-CoV-2.

Yes, I do agree with you to the fact that most of the attention was given in developing vaccines but that was also necessary.

The COVID situation in Bangladesh is not quite good actually. People are not careful enough to abide by the public health guidelines. Vaccination has already started here, and we are hoping to get back to normal (or cope with the new normal) soon. It is such a great information to know that you did you PhD in Bangladesh. JUST is one the great universities here.

Warm Regards,

Fahmida Begum Mina

I share your thoughts and opinions @ Fahmida Begum Mina.

Let's see how it goes....I hope multiple therapeutic measures become approved and readily available soon.

Convalescent plasma therapy is still an effective option for treatment of severe COVID-19 cases.

https://www.pnas.org/content/117/17/9490

Agree withArvind Singh

The economic dimension must be taken into account in the different types of treatment either therapeutic or prophylactic treatment

Arvind Singh and Ghada Mahmoud Abdel-Rafee

The question still remains "Apart from vaccines, what else is science coming up with as regard to COVID-19 treatment and/or perhaps cure?" The emphasis on vaccines outweigh all other options, and sooner or later, the world would be forced to get vaccine shots......Would other options suffice??

Rine C. Reuben

Vaccine, undoubtedly is the best option to prevent COVID-19.

Thanks!