Treatments

Two drug combos show protection against severe COVID-19 CIDRAP

Two new randomized, controlled trials published yesterday in the Annals of Internal Medicine describe how drug combinations lowered the risk of severe COVID-19, with one detailing use of the antidepressant fluvoxamine plus the corticosteroid budesonide, and the other outlining the monoclonal antibody duo amubarvimab plus romlusevimab.

Early steroid use for severe COVID-19 tied to fewer deaths CIDRAP

JAMA Network Open has published a new US national cohort study demonstrating that early administration of the steroid dexamethasone was associated with significantly reduced odds of mortality or discharge to hospice in those requiring supplemental oxygen or mechanical ventilation and/or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

The effect was not seen, however, in patients who did not require supplemental oxygen or noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation.

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U.S. spending $5 billion to speed up development of new COVID vaccines The U.S. government is spending over $5 billion on an effort to speed up the development of new COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson and a Biden administration official said on Monday. Reuters Reuters

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