The confusion of 30% of the world's infected people, who will cure the "new crown sequelae"?

Who would have thought that the new coronavirus may cause Alzheimer's disease

In February of this year, a study published in the top journal "Alzheimer's & Dementia" in the field of clinical neurology shocked the market:

Among the cases of severe deaths from the new crown, abnormal numbers of tau protein and beta-amyloid plaques appeared in the brain cells of some cases

These symptoms happen to be typical of Alzheimer's disease

Although the above research is only a conjecture, and there is no definite clinical data to prove it, it is a common situation that long-term sequelae caused by infection with the new crown are common

This may include adverse reactions such as increased body temperature, dry cough, and fatigue, and may also cause neurological symptoms in some patients

According to a study by the University of California, Los Angeles, it is estimated that about 30% of new crown patients will develop Long-COVID symptoms

Obviously, in addition to the prevention and treatment of the new coronavirus, how to treat patients with long-term sequelae to minimize the impact has become the next issue that the pharmaceutical industry must consider

At present, there are more and more discussions overseas, and related clinical research has also begun to increase

1

It has only been two years since the new coronavirus appeared in the public eye
.
In such a short period of time, vaccines have been invented and oral medicines have been introduced with amazing efficiency
.

But even so, there are still many mysteries in the new coronavirus waiting for the medical community to unearth
.
For example, when many people attribute the new crown to an acute infectious disease with short-term symptoms, they often ignore the long-term harm caused by the "Long - COVID " phenomenon
.

What is "Long -COVID "? In fact, there is currently no accurate official definition.
According to the British scholar who first discovered the "Long -COVID " phenomenon, "the patient continues to have symptoms for more than 12 weeks after recovery from the new crown, and cannot be explained by other reasons", it can be characterized as "Long -COVID "
.

Simply put, it is the sequelae of the new crown
.

According to the statistical analysis of the current data, fatigue is the most common sequelae
.
In addition, shortness of breath, loss of taste, loss of smell, anxiety and depression are also common conditions, involving the human respiratory system, digestive system, nervous system,
etc.

In particular, many patients with a history of diabetes and a higher body mass index have a higher probability of developing the "Long -COVID " phenomenon
.

Perhaps many friends think that these symptoms are very mild and there is no need to put them on the line
.
However, these can only be observed by the outside world.
In fact, in addition to these known symptoms, there may also be many invisible and intangible risks to patients
.

Last year, American scholars did such a set of controlled trials.
Compared with hospitalized patients with seasonal flu, the risk of death within 6 months of recovery in hospitalized patients with new crowns unexpectedly increased by 51%
.

In a comparison of 13,600 new crown hospitalized patients and 14,000 influenza hospitalized patients, the excess deaths per 1,000 patients who recovered from the new crown within half a year reached 28.
79, which is about 3.
5 times that of influenza hospitalized patients
.

In addition, the "Lancet" also published a study in August last year, "Long -COVID " symptoms may still exist 1 year after the discharge of new crown patients, although many patients' health status after 1 year has been compared with 6 months after discharge Significant improvement, but not yet return to healthy baseline levels
.

A brief summary is not difficult to find that although the symptoms of "Long -COVID
" are not acute, they may bring temporarily unknown potential risks to patients .

Just in the past April 18, the University of California, Los Angeles disclosed a research report, estimating that about 30% of new crown patients will have "Long -COVID " symptoms
.

What is even more frightening is that in the face of such a high incidence, the industry currently has little knowledge of the causes and risks of "Long -COVID
" .

How to reduce the impact of "Long -COVID " has become a compulsory subject for pharmaceutical companies, especially when the overseas epidemic has become uncontrollable
.

2

"Long -COVID " has no specific drug yet

In the long run, compared with short-term infectiousness, the real difficulty of the new crown may be the mysterious "Long -COVID " symptoms
.

For now, there are no drugs that are clearly effective against "Long -COVID " in the industry, and experts don't know how to relieve "Long -COVID " symptoms
.

In theory, while drugs that reduce the severity of the disease may reduce the impact of " Long -COVID ", "Long -COVID " is often not associated with acute illness and is close to asymptomatic
.

In response to the ghostly situation of "Long-COVID", 20 clinics dedicated to "Long-COVID" were set up in the UK last year , but these clinics did not provide any curative treatment to patients
.

So how can the impact of "Long -COVID " on patients be significantly reduced ? Currently, the only way is to get vaccinated
.

In February, the UK Department of Health and Social Care did a study on vaccines and "Long -COVID ", comparing people who received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to those who didn't get one
.

The study found that patients who received two doses of the new crown vaccine had a 41% lower chance of "Long -COVID " symptoms after 12 weeks , becoming the only effective means of prevention
.

However, although the new crown vaccine has data support for the prevention of "Long -COVID ", these statistics are actually based on previous generations of viruses, and whether it is effective for the now more infectious Omicron still needs more Validation of experimental data
.

So, can oral drugs such as Paxlovid, which are very effective in relieving severe cases, treat "Long -COVID "?

Unfortunately, all the new crown oral drugs that have been on the market face the same problem, that is, the market time is too short, and there is a lack of real and effective clinical data
.

It takes at least 12 weeks to diagnose "Long-Covid", let alone cure the symptoms
.
Although one case has claimed that the symptoms of "Long -COVID " have been significantly alleviated by taking oral medicines , without systematic clinical validation, oral medicines for the new crown cannot be regarded as an effective means of controlling "Long -COVID "
.

3

Will it be the next outlet

In the past 2021, the new crown vaccine has become the biggest outlet
.
Whether it is Kexing in China or Pfizer, Moderna, and BioNTech overseas, the performance has soared rapidly because of the new crown vaccine
.

But now, the latest discussion about vaccines is whether supply exceeds demand
.
At the beginning of the month, Bloomberg reported that the new crown vaccine produced by Moderna was starting to be rejected, the latest sign of a global vaccine oversupply
.

In fact, as the global vaccine penetration rate continues to rise, it may be difficult to reproduce the brilliant sales data like 2021
.
And this is just a microcosm of the new crown prevention strategy
.

Looking back, from the panic in 2020 to the stability in 2021, the global prevention strategy is actually changing dynamically
.
With the change of prevention and control strategies, the main product line of the new crown has also transitioned from detection reagents to new crown vaccines
.

Focusing on the present, the main line of demand in 2022 is actually relatively clear, that is, the new crown oral drug
.
For example, Pfizer's oral drug Paxlovid is very likely to take over the vaccine Comirnaty this year and become a new growth point for the company's performance
.

It is not difficult to find that the global new crown prevention strategy is changing from prevention to treatment
.

Looking to the future, after the short-term symptoms are significantly relieved, how to overcome the "Long -COVID " which has a longer-term impact may become the next focus of competition for pharmaceutical companies
.

In addition to academic discussions in major journals including "Nature", clinical research is also advancing
.
According to the data disclosed by ClinicalTrials, a clinical trial recruitment website in the United States, there are currently 226 clinical trial data recruited for "Long-Covid" patients, which are still in their infancy
.

Pfizer has no idea about this market either
.
The clinical trial conducted by Paxlovi included a six-month follow-up of subjects
.

Oral drug products like Pfizer's Paxlovid, because they have the effect of relieving severe new crowns, may not be too surprising if they can overcome "Long -COVID
" .

Of course, the impact of "Long -COVID " is more subtle and complex, including multiple human systems such as the respiratory system, digestive system, and nervous system
.
Therefore, the difficulty behind this will be enormous
.
But the opportunities may be far greater than what we see so far
.

In the post-new crown era, it is no longer a short-term acute symptom treatment, but a long-term chronic disease prevention and treatment
.
For pharmaceutical companies, this shift in perception may be the most important
.

Text / Lin Xiaochen

Source: Yaodu