UK PM Boris Johnson taken to intensive care

originally posted by: UKTruth

originally posted by: bastion
a reply to: carewemust

Nah. Downing Street said they weren't interested in Trump's offer when he originally made it as there's no evidence they work. The drug companies involved also confirmed that it never went further than Trump phoning the CEO as the drugs haven't undergone any clinical trials and three of the four companies' drugs can't even be prescribed on compassionate grounds as they're too dangerous.

sources?

None of the treatments the four US “genius” drug companies that Donald Trump claims could help Boris Johnson recover from Covid-19 are clinically tested for coronavirus or available on the market, it has emerged.

Trump said he had spoken to four companies working with the US government on Monday and had asked two of them to “contact London immediately” about assisting with the prime minister’s treatment.

Downing Street has indicated it does not wish to take up Trump’s offer of experimental drugs.
www.theguardian.com...

originally posted by: paraphi

originally posted by: carewemust
As of this writing, I still can't find what type of drug is responsible for Mr. Boris Johnson's miraculous recovery.

Er, that's because people's medical history and treatment are private.

If you were told it was aspirin you would not believe it, because you want to believe Boris has been given some treatment not available to everyone else - virgin's blood, or unicorn horn, or whatever.

There are a number of treatments whish have been proposed for Covid-19. These range from some antiviral drugs, HIV drugs, melatonin, vitamin C, a repurposed Ebola drug. Even an arthritis drug has been proposed. Oh, and there’s chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. While some of these drugs may be fast-tracked through trials, there has to be a modicum of clinical testing to make sure they work and they don’t cause other complications, or just raise false hope.

At the moment, in the UK at least, the treatment regime for people with Covid-19 is based around clinical need and this is how it should be. New drugs need to be tested by due process rather than YouTube, the prevalence of syndicated news, Google search results or urban myth.

Hydroxychloroquine is currently being tested, but also used on high risk patients.
The hospital Boris Johnson was in is one of the hospitals directly connected to the trials.
The UK Govt actually banned the export from the UK of this drug as they were worried about low stock levels.

Whether it was used on the PM is anyone's guess, but it is certainly not off the table that it was.
It would depend on how bad he really was I guess.

What is not in doubt is that it is a very promising drug in treating Covid-19, just like the President of the US said.
Because he said it, some very dishonest and rather awful poeople are trying to make the drug a bigger killer than Covid-19. Those people could be contributing to people dying if they do not give permission for doctors to use the drug.

Mr Johnson is being cared for at St Thomas' Hospital, a central London hospital involved with major trials of experimental drugs on COVID-19 patients.

The medicines - including the promising antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine - have been approved by drug regulators for clinical trial purposes only.

Other candidates being tested in Britain include HIV drug combination lopinavir and ritonavir, as well as experimental Ebola drug remdesivir.

Doctors across the UK will assess how thousands of patients - some of whom will be in a critically ill condition - respond to these medicines.

WHAT ARE THE MOST PROMISING DRUGS BEING TESTED?

Hydroxychloroquine (Malaria)

What are the brand versions of the drug?

Plaquenil.

What does it treat?

Malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. It is a less powerful and, by some experts' accounts, less toxic, version of chloroquine phosphate.

Who makes it and where has it already been tested?

Drug giant Sanofi carried out a study on 24 patients, which the French government described as 'promising'.
French health officials are now planning on a larger trial of the drug, which is used on the NHS.

What have studies shown?

Results from the French study showed three quarters of patients treated with the drug were cleared of the virus within six days. None of the placebo group were treated.

How does it work?

It interferes with viral molecules replicating in red blood cells.

Is it being tested in the UK?

Hydroxychloroquine is one of the first drugs to be trialled in the Principle study. It involves high-risk patients in primary care, aged between 50 to 64, who have COVID-19 symptoms and a chronic health condition such as heart disease, asthma or cancer.

It is unclear how many patients are taking part, and the study will run until March next year. So it will be a while before results are clear.

The study is being run at the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) in Surrey.

Hydroxychloroquine is also thought to be among 1,000 drugs being tested at Queens University Belfast.

What are its side effects?

Skin rashes, nausea, diarrhoea and headaches.

What do the experts think?

Chinese scientists investigating the other form of chloroquine penned a letter to a prestigious journal saying its 'less toxic' derivative may also help.

In the comment to Cell Discovery – owned by publisher Nature, they said it shares similar chemical structures and mechanisms.

The team of experts added: 'It is easy to conjure up the idea that hydroxychloroquine may be a potent candidate to treat infection by SARS-CoV-2.'

originally posted by: gortex

originally posted by: UKTruth

originally posted by: bastion
a reply to: carewemust

Nah. Downing Street said they weren't interested in Trump's offer when he originally made it as there's no evidence they work. The drug companies involved also confirmed that it never went further than Trump phoning the CEO as the drugs haven't undergone any clinical trials and three of the four companies' drugs can't even be prescribed on compassionate grounds as they're too dangerous.

sources?

None of the treatments the four US “genius” drug companies that Donald Trump claims could help Boris Johnson recover from Covid-19 are clinically tested for coronavirus or available on the market, it has emerged.

Trump said he had spoken to four companies working with the US government on Monday and had asked two of them to “contact London immediately” about assisting with the prime minister’s treatment.

Downing Street has indicated it does not wish to take up Trump’s offer of experimental drugs.
www.theguardian.com...

Downing Street has indicated it does not wish to take up Trump’s offer of experimental drugs

This is the Guardian making a claim, with no quotes and no supporting evidence.
Who 'indicated'? What did they say? When did they say it?

Hydroxychloroquine IS being used now and has been used. Early tests have proven successful.

Coronavirus patients in NHS hospitals have begun receiving a controversial anti-malarial drug, as leaks reveal fear among staff that global stocks will run out.
Barts in London and the Royal Devon and Exeter are among trusts now handing out hydroxychloroquine, described by Donald Trump as a “gamechanger”, in a bid to keep seriously ill Covid-19 patients alive.

In a scientific paper published online, doctors from across China, including in Wuhan and Hubei, the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, revealed their study's disappointing results.

They had tested hydroxychloroquine on 75 COVID-19 patients in hospitals and compared their illnesses to 75 patients who didn't receive the drug.

Patients received the medication for two or three weeks depending on the severity of their illness and all were tested 28 days after being diagnosed.

The doctors, led by Wei Tang from Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai, wanted to compare 'negative conversion rates' - the number of people who healed completely and tested negative for the virus after a month.

'The overall 28-day negative conversion rate was not different between [standard care plus hydroxychloroquine] and [standard care] groups,' they wrote.

They said that 85.4 per cent of people taking hydroxychloroquine tested negative after four weeks along with 81.3 per cent of those without the drug - a non-significant effect.

After careful analysis of the data from the study, the scientists did find that symptoms appeared to be milder in people being given the antimalarial medication, which is used in the UK to treat people with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

And their white blood cell counts and C-reactive protein, which increases during a body's fight against an infection, returned to normal faster than other patients'.

The researchers added hydroxychloroquine results in 'more alleviation of clinical symptoms than [standard care] alone in patients hospitalized with COVID-19'.

I think it is pretty clear that it is a promising drug and requires further testing - which is happening all over the world.
It's not the death drug that propagandists are claiming just because Trump mentioned it.

a reply to: UKTruth

This is the Guardian making a claim, with no quotes and no supporting evidence.

You asked for a source I provided a source , unsurprising that as it counters your belief the source is of no use.
(You forgot the link to your source above)

a reply to: UKTruth

Hydroxychloroquine is currently being tested, but also used on high risk patients.
The hospital Boris Johnson was in is one of the hospitals directly connected to the trials.
The UK Govt actually banned the export from the UK of this drug as they were worried about low stock levels.

The jury is still out on it. They have been testing it on people here in the worldwide, including the US and there are some significant side effects and overall questions of efficiency.

I hope it is something that works. We are a long long way out before we really know. It will be a miraculous cure in a few, it will kill a couple and it will be negligible until we have enough data.

I thought I read that the UK was actually banning any import of the drug but I am lacking a source...

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: UKTruth

This is the Guardian making a claim, with no quotes and no supporting evidence.

You asked for a source I provided a source , unsurprising that as it counters your belief the source is of no use.
(You forgot the link to your source above)

That is not a source.
There is no one from the Govt cited.

I could just as easily say "Boris has confirmed that Hydroxychloroquine was used to save his life".
There - what makes that claim any less valid than Lisa O'Carroll of the Guardian.
Don;t you think if she had ANY actual source she would have gone into a little more detail than "Downing Street has indicated".

Now, I am not saying that the UK govt has not rejected Trump's advice - but please cite a source.
Everything I am seeing says that the UK Govt is actively persuing the use of hydroxychloroquine, including at the hospital Johnson was in.

originally posted by: ColoradoJens
a reply to: UKTruth

Hydroxychloroquine is currently being tested, but also used on high risk patients.
The hospital Boris Johnson was in is one of the hospitals directly connected to the trials.
The UK Govt actually banned the export from the UK of this drug as they were worried about low stock levels.

The jury is still out on it. They have been testing it on people here in the worldwide, including the US and there are some significant side effects and overall questions of efficiency.

I hope it is something that works. We are a long long way out before we really know. It will be a miraculous cure in a few, it will kill a couple and it will be negligible until we have enough data.

I thought I read that the UK was actually banning any import of the drug but I asm lacking a source...

No, the UK is banning the EXPORT of the drug FROM the UK because they do not want to lose access to stock.

a reply to: UKTruth

Sorry, yeah stand corrected on that.

It is still not proven. Keep testing as they are. I hope it works.

originally posted by: ColoradoJens
a reply to: UKTruth

Sorry, yeah stand corrected on that.

It is still not proven. Keep testing as they are. I hope it works.

Exactly - keep the testing going.
The drug is being used now on patients so as the use spreads we will get good data.
Early tests are positive, so we can have some hope.

a reply to: UKTruth

Re read the article. It's from Boris' spokesperson (James Slack) made on 7th April (possible evening of the 6th) during the press conference. The quote is “On this specific point… We’re confident the prime minister is receiving the best possible care from the National Health Service. Any treatment he receives is a matter for his doctors,” adding that “we are grateful for all of the warm wishes the prime minister has received overnight.”

The plural of annecdote isn't data. While there's trials being conducted, the drugs haven't gone through the clinical trials process. 75 patients isn't a large enough sample size to deduce anything, the data from decent trials is still a couple of months away. Hopefully it's shown to be effective and the benefits outweigh the known risks but the chance of the PM or any countries leader being used as a test case in phase I/II trial is nil due to the risks involved.

originally posted by: paraphi

originally posted by: carewemust
As of this writing, I still can't find what type of drug is responsible for Mr. Boris Johnson's miraculous recovery.

Er, that's because people's medical history and treatment are private.

Any idea where the courts are up to on the case of Woman A in this regard? There's a tragic case that's either still going through the courts or may have concluded that may drastically change Dr patient confidentiality in the UK. Long story short is she's suing the NHS for medical negligence for not being informed of her Dad having Hodgkinsons as he'd signed a waiver with his Dr saying he didn't want his family informed. A few months later the Dad shot and killed woman A's Mum, likely due to the effects of Hodgkinsons and woman A had a child that she claims she wouldn't have had if she'd been informed of the high risk that both her and her child would develop Hodgkinsons.

originally posted by: UKTruth

originally posted by: ColoradoJens
a reply to: UKTruth

Sorry, yeah stand corrected on that.

It is still not proven. Keep testing as they are. I hope it works.

Exactly - keep the testing going.
The drug is being used now on patients so as the use spreads we will get good data.
Early tests are positive, so we can have some hope.

Hey man, long time member but rarely post - i do watch threads thought and you have had a lot of takes on political things I fully disagreed with you on but respect the way you have approached this subject - just an observation I have 0 standing just acknowledging that.