April 8, 2020

FRANCE: 12 French Doctors File A Petition Calling On French Prime Minister And Minister Of Health To Urgently Make Hydroxychloroquine Available In All French Hospital Pharmacies.

Tech Startups News
written by Staff
Tuesday April 7, 2020

As coronavirus death toll continues to rise around the world, there is a growing call for the use of use of hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID-19 patients. Today, 12 French doctors led by Dr. Philippe Douste-Blazy and Dr. Christian Perronne, have started a petition at Change.org urging French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and his Minister of Health, to urgently make hydroxychloroquine available in all hospital pharmacies, so that each hospital doctor can prescribe to all patients with symptomatic form of the Covid-19 condition, particularly those with pulmonary disorders if their condition requires it.
LeParisien News, local translated
written by Staff
Friday April 3, 2020

Initiated by the former Minister of Health Philippe Douste-Blazy and signed by several medical personalities, including Pr François Bricaire and Patrick Pelloux, a manifesto, which we are unveiling exclusively, asks Prime Minister Edouard Philippe that doctors can prescribe more easily to patients of hydroxychloroquine faced with the Covid-19 epidemic .

Here is the text of their appeal:
Collective of April 3, 2020

Below is a translation of their petition in English.

We are living in a major global health crisis and our country is severely hit by the Covid-19 epidemic wave.

Every day we mourn many deaths. Against this disease, we have neither vaccines nor antiviral treatment even if the current scientific data are patchy and discordant.

Recent Chinese data have suggested the efficacy of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine in the laboratory and in patients. A study published by Chen et al. (Efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in patients with Covid-19: results of a randomized clinical trial) shows the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in patients with Covid-19 suffering from moderately severe pneumonia; the few who worsened did not receive treatment.

Maps published by Santé Publique France show a much lower mortality rate among hospitalized people in Marseille than in the rest of the territory.

In view of international scientific data as well as field experiences from doctors in direct contact with the infection and pending new scientifically controlled data, the Italian and then American authorities have taken bold therapeutic decisions in this area. .

On March 17, 2020, the Italian drug agency, considering the health emergency, authorized the prescription of hydroxychloroquine by all doctors, including city doctors.

To avoid all risks or deviations, this medication must be delivered to a hospital pharmacy with an obligation to ensure traceability of prescriptions and return of medical data.

On March 29, after a favorable opinion from the FDA (American drug agency), the United States Department of Health (US Department of HHS) decided to make chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine available hospital pharmacies throughout the federal territory.

The American government will use its strategic reserve made up of millions of treatments accumulated over the past few weeks.

As of now, the FDA authorizes all American hospital doctors to prescribe these two drugs, including outside therapeutic trials. It requests, as in Italy, that all the medical data of the patients treated be collected in order to analyze them.

Portugal has just recommended these treatments for cases of Covid-19 with pneumonia.

The tolerance of these drugs prescribed to millions of individuals for decades is good on the express condition of respecting the dosage and contraindications, checking the compatibility with other drugs taken simultaneously, controlling the potassium level in the blood and perform an electrocardiogram beforehand, especially in the case of an associated prescription for azithromycin

Self-medication should be avoided at all costs.

Awaiting new scientifically controlled data, in the acute situation that we know, more and more doctors think that this strategy is essential, in accordance with their Hippocratic oath, to treat their patients in their soul and conscience.

However, the decree in force in France No. 2020/337 of March 26, 2020 allows the use of hydroxychloroquine only “after collegial decision, in compliance with the recommendations of the Haut-Conseil de la Santé Publique and, in particular of indication for patients with oxygen-demanding pneumonia or organ failure “.

At this late stage of the disease, this treatment may be ineffective. If the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine is confirmed, the protocol will have to be opened quickly to private doctors to avoid saturation of hospitals.

We therefore ask the Prime Minister and his Minister of Health to urgently amend this decree and to make available immediately in all hospital pharmacies hydroxychloroquine or, failing that, chloroquine so that each hospital doctor can prescribe to all patients with symptomatic form of the Covid-19 condition, particularly those with pulmonary disorders if their condition requires it.

We call on the State to make reservations or orders for hydroxychloroquine so that, if the effectiveness is confirmed in the coming days, we will not be in want of treatment.

Pr. Philippe Douste-Blazy, Professor of public health and epidemiology, former Minister of Health,

Pr. Christian Perronne, Head of the infectious diseases department of Raymond Poincaré de Garches hospital,

Dr. Michèle Barzach, former Minister of Health,

Pr. Isabelle Bourgault Villada, Professor of dermatology at Ambroise Paré hospital,

Pr. François Bricaire, former Head of the infectious diseases department at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital, Member of the Academy of Medicine,

Pr. Marc Gentilini, Professor of parasitology, public health and infectious disease clinic, Member of the Academy of Medicine,

Pr. Olivier Goulet, Professor of Pediatrics at Necker Hospital,

Pr. Jacques Marescaux, Founding President of IRCAD, Member of the Academy of Medicine,

Pr. Catherine Neuwirth, Professor of microbiology at the University Hospital of Dijon,

Dr. Patrick Pelloux, President of the Association of Emergency Physicians of France,

Pr. Paul Trouillas, Professor of neurology at the CHU de Lyon,

Dr. Martine Wonner, psychiatrist, LREM deputy for the Bas Rhin.
Clinical Trials Arena

Hydroxychloroquine, marketed by Sanofi under the trade name Plaquenil, is primarily indicated for the treatment of malaria, discoid and systemic lupus erythematosus, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The drug is being studied alongside the antibiotic azithromycin (Zithromax) for the treatment of Covid-19.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug combination for the clinical trial in patients infected with Covid-19. Patients in New York will be the first-in-line to receive the drug combination.

Developed by Sanofi, hydroxychloroquine is being produced by various companies in generic form after its patent expiration. Sanofi will provide millions of doses for the treatment of about 300,000 Covid-19 patients in France. Sanofi is also working with Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to develop vaccine candidate for the novel coronavirus, using its recombinant DNA platform.

Novartis committed to donating up to 130 million 200mg doses of generic hydroxychloroquine to support Covid-19 pandemic response globally. Other big pharmaceuticals, including Teva and Mylan, will also produce the drug for Covid-19 treatment in infected patients.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) listed hydroxychloroquine as an investigational drug for efficacy against Covid-19.

Hydroxychloroquine comes in the form of white tablets for oral administration in a recommended dose of 200mg for clinical development.

Covid-19 symptoms and causes

Covid-19 is a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) caused by a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, first identified in Wuhan in the Hubei Province of China in December 2019. WHO declared it pandemic on 12 March 2020.

It is a highly contagious disease, transmitted through respiratory droplets when an infected individual cough, sneezes or talks, which may also spread by touching a contaminated surface or object.

The person infected with the disease shows flu-like symptoms such as fever, muscle pain, cough, and sore throat in approximately five to six days after infection, while some patients may remain asymptomatic carriers. The disease further develops severe pneumonia in the patients. The mortality rate is high in patients with underlying conditions and those aged 60 years and above.

Mechanism of action of hydroxychloroquine
Hydroxychloroquine and its more toxic analogue chloroquine have shown efficacy against SARS-CoV-2, found to be efficient in Covid-19 patients in China. The in-vitro studies demonstrated the anti-SARS-CoV activity of hydroxychloroquine with higher clinical safety profile and fewer drug-drug interactions than chloroquine.

Clinical studies on hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin
An open-label, non-randomised clinical study was approved by the French National Agency for Drug Safety (ANSM) performed by Didier Raoult and team in 36 Covid-19 patients in the Mediterrane Infection University Hospital Institute in Marseille, France.

A total of 20 patients received hydroxychloroquine, while 16 patients were in the control group.

At day six, 70% of the hydroxychloroquine-treated patients showed no signs of virological loads compared to 12.5% of patients in the control group. Further, six of the hydroxychloroquine-treated patients received azithromycin for the prevention of bacterial super-infection under daily electrocardiogram control.

After inclusion, at day six, 100% of patients receiving hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin were virologically cured, compared to 57.1% of patients receiving hydroxychloroquine alone and 12.5% of patients in the control group.

Hydroxychloroquine was efficient in clearing the viral loads of SARS-CoV-2 in Covid-19 patients in three to six days, strengthened by azithromycin.

Azithromycin is active against Zika and Ebola viruses in vitro, as well as severe respiratory tract infections.

Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin have been recommended to cure Covid-19 in patients to weaken the transmission chain of the virus and to curb the spread of the disease worldwide.
Tech Startups News
written by Staff

Thursday April 5, 2020

Unlike the conventional method of admitting patients to the hospitals, Dr. Zelenko’s approach is to provide treatment to patients before their situation get worse so they don’t have to be admitted into the hospital. His approach has been so effective to the point that he has treated 900 coronavirus patients with 99.99% rate. His approach is to provide treatment to people so that they don’t have to be put on ventilators. His out-patient treatment regimen, which costs only $12, is as follows:

1. Hydroxychloroquine 200mg twice a day for 5 days

2. Azithromycin 500mg once a day for 5 days

3. Zinc sulfate 220mg once a day for 5 days

In an open letter to medical professionals across the globe, Dr. Zelenko said this: “The rationale for my treatment plan is as follows. I combined the data available from China and South Korea with the recent study published from France (sites available on request). We know that hydroxychloroquine helps Zinc enter the cell. We know that Zinc slows viral replication within the cell. Regarding the use of azithromycin, I postulate it prevents secondary bacterial infections. These three drugs are well known and usually well tolerated, hence the risk to the patient is low.”

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 7:33 PM

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