Beware Of The Side Effects

Pfizer and Merck have rushed to produce drugs that will lessen the severity of the coronavirus in people who contract the disease. Unfortunately, as with all medications, these drugs have side effects–some of which are dangerous.

On Sunday Newsmax reported the following:

Experts warn that despite the first antiviral pills for COVID-19 promising protection for those at risk of severe disease, Pfizer’s or Merck’s new medications may not be safe for everyone, NBC News reported over the weekend.

One of the two drugs in Pfizer’s Paxlovid antiviral cocktail could cause severe or life-threatening interactions with commonly used medications, including statins, blood thinners and some antidepressants, and the FDA does not recommend Paxlovid for those with severe kidney or liver disease.

In addition, due to concerns about the potential side effects of Merck’s molnupiravir, the FDA has restricted its use to adults and only in cases in which other treatments are inaccessible or are not ”clinically appropriate.”

Please follow the link above to read the entire article for further details.

Americans with high cholesterol are routinely put on statins; Americans with a-fib or other heart issues are routinely put on blood thinners. Hopefully doctors will take this into consideration before prescribing the antiviral pills. All medications have side effects–medicine is a risk vs. reward profession. I am concerned, however, about the too close relationship between the FDA and the pharmaceutical companies. Many doctors who have been seeing Covid patients for the past two years believe that there are effective, inexpensive ways of dealing with the disease that have been blocked by the FDA in favor of protocols that provide greater profits for the pharmaceutical industry.

Good News About The Coronavirus

The Gateway Pundit is reporting today that Washington doctors successfully treated a Coronavirus patient with experimental anti-viral medication and the patient “significantly” improved in hours. That is fantastic news.

The article reports:

Dr. George Diaz, a section chief for infectious diseases at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett joined Arthel Neville on FOX News on Sunday morning to discuss the successful treatment of the center’s coronavirus patient.

Dr. George Diaz: About a week into his course he got worse developed pneumonia. At that point given the reports we had gotten out of China… At that point we elected to give him… the experimental Remdesivir, antiviral medication. And within 24 hours he improved significantly. This was quite encouraging and he improved and thereafter remained without fever and felt much better. Over the next few days he improved to where we thought he could be discharged at home under the care of the local health district.

Arthel Neville: And you said you used, I believe an experimental anti-viral medication, that you gave this patient. Can you apply this treatment to ALL people infected with the coronavirus or does it depend on the stage of their infection?

Dr. George Diaz: Yes, at this point the CDC has been working with the authorities in China and have recently opened a large clinical trial of Chinese patients looking at those with severe disease as well as those with mild to moderate disease. We are very much looking forward to the trials.

This is wonderful news. It remains to be seen if this medication will work on all cases of the virus–viruses mutate, but it is a wonderful first step.