Matt Hall Profile picture
9 Dec, 7 tweets, 3 min read
Our @NIHDirector says @ncats_nih_gov have been "everywhere you look" on COVID-19 science !!

Part of a @MilkenInstitute Conversation with Dr. Francis Collins, Director, @nih (and Michael Milken)

vimeo.com/486353483
There were three examples that @NIHDirector gave.

First, tackling a battery of assays, screening of all libraries for SARS-COV-2, and sharing data openly through our OpenData Portal

opendata.ncats.nih.gov/covid19
Second, N3C "the boldest effort to get everyone to contribute clinical data so we can learn what is happening with patients affected with COVID19"

ncats.nih.gov/n3c
Third, NCATS runs a CTSA network of ~60 clinical and translational science institutions across country (CTSA) and runs trials such as that ACTIV1 trial of immunomodulators:

nih.gov/research-train…
Here's some info on the NCATS CTSA program:
ncats.nih.gov/ctsa
And don't forget that NCATS is coordinating the randomized controlled trials with convalescent plasma too!

ncats.nih.gov/news/releases/…
And of course NCATS is a critical part of the trans-NIH serosurvey program in collaboration with other ICs !

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More from @cispt2

11 Dec
So here's an update on the abandoned UQ COVID vaccine named UQ-CSL v451

uq.edu.au/news/node/1279…
First, the release states that the vaccine worked: vaccine elicited a response and "There were no serious adverse events or safety concerns reported in the 216 trial participants"
BUT the vaccine trials will not advance to Phase 2/3, according to @CSL
Read 24 tweets
10 Dec
WELL I'm going to have to dig into this. Reminder that vaccine development is not straightforward, despite the super-exciting day we are having watching #VRBPAC

Australian COVID vaccine terminated due to HIV ‘false positives’ smh.com.au/politics/feder…
"The UQ vaccine candidate uses a protein and adjuvant platform, containing the COVID-19 spike protein and a "molecular clamp". A small component is derived from.... HIV, that is not able to infect people or replicate."

Any details out there?
Read 4 tweets
13 Sep
Well - huge issues here. Not sure this article will be around for long.

And it's just samples collected for a completely different study (on asthma), and they checked TMPRSS2.

"Race" isn't mentioned in the awarded R01 - it's an asthma grant from NIAID.
grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-…
I have a terrible feeling that ran TMPRSS2 expression on their samples, looked for a differential based on what they know about study sample donors (rather than having a hypothesis), and were like "welp, 'race' is a thing with COVID let's go with that".
I mean, there are enough studies showing this approach is not valid:

"These results suggest that .... careful consideration of self-identified race in gene expression profiling studies is needed to avoid spurious association."

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
Read 4 tweets
5 Apr
OK so let's talk about camostat, because I'm starting to worry about it as a #COVID19 repurposing candidate. It emerged based on this Cell paper, but a LOT of assumptions are buried in the science.
cell.com/cell/fulltext/… Image
That Cell paper calls camostat "calls camostat “a clinically proven inhibitor of the cellular serine protease TMPRSS2” – which is not strictly correct.

It’s a clinically used drug (in Japan)

It has been shown to act on TMPRSS2 indirectly

Separate points. @Dereklowe
So what is camostat used for?

It's a serine protease inhibitor, and in Japan it's approved for treating pancreatitis. In that indiciation, doses are 600 mg are given. Data indicates it acts via anti-inflammatory action:
nature.com/articles/37002…
Read 14 tweets
30 Jan 19
This article on a 'miracle cure' for cancer has me so angry. How can unpublished, non-peer reviewed tripe get any attention at all? Some of the issues are in the thread below:
jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE…
First, the experimental theraputic modality is based on phage-display-derived peptides against various targets that are apparently coupled together with a 'peptide toxin'. Presumably the peptide toxin is Monomethyl auristatin E
Next, the article states they have "concluded its first exploratory mice experiment, which inhibited human cancer cell growth and had no effect at all on healthy mice cells".
Read 11 tweets

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