Interviewed on CNBC this morning regarding our #COVID19 antibody cure. We discuss why a vaccine will take too long to avert the medical and economic crisis in 2020. Vaccines don’t work well in the elderly and immunocompromised. Thus we need an antibody. cnbc.com/video/2020/03/…
We discuss our plan for rapid GMP partnerships, to run a Phase I/II study in the summer followed by compassionate use release in the fall. This is the fastest way to avert the humanitarian and financial crisis
but it requires that we bite the bullet and pay for an expensive initial trial, which in my view should come out of the federal trillion dollar support package and potentially by other nations as well.
I discuss the neutralization assays supported by #USAMRIID in the coming weeks on the final medicine and our conversations with #DARPA. If you have any contacts in #DARPA and #BARDA, now is the time to please badger them for me.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
1. RNA vaccine ingredients. These vaccines have RNA wrapped up inside tiny droplets of oil and cholesterol. The lipids are similar to your cells - they have mild chemical charge on one side that orients the RNA (short-lived genetic message encoding the coronavirus spike protein)
2. ... inside them (biological systems do this all the time). There is also polyethalene glycol - this is a common compounds used in medicines to make them more water soluble, it’s also used as a constipation medicine when given at high doses and in a bunch of other applications.
3. No, the vaccine doesn’t have any formalin or stem cells or “green monkey cells” (I actually don’t know what that is - got it in a question this morning), or carcinogens in it. It’s droplets of oil that protect the RNA until your cells take it up & process the RNA instructions
Comparing two estimates: #California 03/07/20: about 100 #COVID19 cases confirmed. Estimate #1: Assuming 20% of cases are severe enough to seek treatment, and 25% of such cases were actually tested at hospitals, I estimate 2000 infected people in the state.
Estimate #2: given #COVID19 R0=2.5, a 6 day infection cycle, spreading beginning around same time as DNA estimated Seattle cases of 7-weeks ago, we would have 669 cases from a single individual, and 1043 if we had one new spreader arrive per week until Chinese air travel ceased.
If you have 2 new spreaders arrive per week for those first three weeks, the estimates are comparable. Multiple issues with both estimates, but they arrive within a half log of same answer. Thoughts?