I attended a little roundtable today with key people at @WHO ahead of this week’s 3rd #COVID19 Global Research and Innovation Forum. There was no news, but some interesting comments so a quick thread:
England dropping all restrictions came up of course.
“It's a period of great uncertainty”, @DrMikeRyan said.
“I think a lot of people even in the UK are choosing to wear their masks indoors, are choosing to wear their masks on public transport.”
“It's a period of great uncertainty”, @DrMikeRyan said.
“I think a lot of people even in the UK are choosing to wear their masks indoors, are choosing to wear their masks on public transport.”
“Whether their governments continue to mandate that activity is an issue for national policy. But I certainly know from my own perspective, I'll be wearing my mask on public transport and indoor spaces probably for a good while yet”, @DrMikeRyan said.
On lessons learnt about R&D, @doctorsoumya highlighted the “huge variability in both ethics review and regulatory review of the clinical trial protocol”, something I have written about a few times with regards to the Solidarity trial.
Some countries needed 48 hours others 6 months for approval, she said.
“6 months is too late to initiate a clinical trial. So we need to develop that capacity for regulatory and ethics committees, which are not necessarily equipped to deal with an emergency review of protocols.”
“6 months is too late to initiate a clinical trial. So we need to develop that capacity for regulatory and ethics committees, which are not necessarily equipped to deal with an emergency review of protocols.”
She also highlighted the lack of
trials doing head-to-head comparisons:
“If every company does their own trials, they all define things differently. The endpoints are slightly different. Ideally, all companies should agree to head-to-head trials.”
trials doing head-to-head comparisons:
“If every company does their own trials, they all define things differently. The endpoints are slightly different. Ideally, all companies should agree to head-to-head trials.”
“I don't think we had a single head-to-head trial except for the repurposed drugs… But for new products, new vaccines and new drugs, we haven't seen that happen. So this would be something the private sector should agree and these negotiations need to happen in advance.”
And on equity, @doctorsoumya said:
“Contracts which are signed by philanthropic agencies or funders or governments with the private sector to develop a particular product must be accompanied by agreements on tech transfer.”
“Contracts which are signed by philanthropic agencies or funders or governments with the private sector to develop a particular product must be accompanied by agreements on tech transfer.”
.@DrMikeRyan highlighted the need for more research on #LongCovid:
“We don't fully understand the pathophysiology of that and the treatment pathways for those individuals. It's critical, it's crucial.”
“We don't fully understand the pathophysiology of that and the treatment pathways for those individuals. It's critical, it's crucial.”
More research is also needed on people who are chronically infected with virus, carrying it for a long time, he said:
“We need to find better ways to clear the virus in their system. It’s very, very, very important.”
“We need to find better ways to clear the virus in their system. It’s very, very, very important.”
And he highlighted the need for “good operational research for introducing antivirals”:
„There's no point having them in the hospitals, people need to be treated early. So how are we going to develop clinical pathways and the clinical triage to do that?“
„There's no point having them in the hospitals, people need to be treated early. So how are we going to develop clinical pathways and the clinical triage to do that?“
On the path out of the pandemic, @DrMikeRyan said:
„One country can make a decision to take a certain pathway out. It's very dangerous for a country next door or a country down the road to make the same decision based on what's happening in another country.“
„One country can make a decision to take a certain pathway out. It's very dangerous for a country next door or a country down the road to make the same decision based on what's happening in another country.“
„Countries need to make the decision on how they exit this pandemic based on their situation, their epidemiology, their previous strategy, their vaccine coverage, the underlying conditions in their population…, the strength of their health system.“
„If countries start parroting each other, and just doing what the other guy or girl did, then they're going to find themselves in real trouble. The only way out of this pandemic for each country is to recognize where you are and chart your path.“
And @DrMikeRyan highlighted how important it is „that if you have to turn back, if you have to put measures back in place, if the situation does turn negative, that you can reengage the public health and social measures, you can scale up your health care delivery, if you need.“
. @DrMikeRyan: „No matter how this goes, there will still be people in our societies who are highly susceptible and highly vulnerable to severe infection regardless of their immunization status. That's a fact.“
„We're going to have to put in place special protection for them and special pathways that they can access care as quickly as possible“, @DrMikeRyan said, but research also needed to understand vaccination and therapy strategies that might better protect these vulnerable people.
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