COVID-19 in the DIY Scene
4.9%. That is the crude mortality rate for later omicron patients hospitalized for COVID-19 according to a study done by Federal Drug Association. That may not seem like a lot, but an average of 22,239 people get hospitalized with COVID-19 every single day. 4.9% of those patients results in 1092 deaths every single day. Needless to say, this pandemic is not over, and as we move into colder months, these numbers will only rise.
“I am a bit nervous as we enter into winter”
That was what division vice chief of internal medicine and director of critical care for the FDA, Christian Sandrock MD, had to say about the current status of COVID-19. Sandrock spoke with a shaky voice at the latest meeting of the Pulmonary Drugs Advisory Committee, as he unpacked concerns his task force has been attempting to resolve.
The primary goal of Sandrock’s team is to decrease the projected death toll for 2023. An important perspective to understand is that the objective has shifted from preventing cases, to preventing deaths.
“We’re not worried about sniffles anymore; we’re worried about death”
This was uttered by a fellow member of the committee and was the general consensus of the group. The healthcare around COVID-19 has developed to a place where it is manageable to nurse from home. With the increased accessibility of vaccines and boosters, it is impressive to see how far this technology has come.
Still yet, a quadruple digit death toll is not something that the FDA can ignore. Especially with a projected increase in hospitalizations for the winter months2, the FDA is frantically looking for solutions.
“Unfortunately, the risk of death and serious illness still remains high… we need something more than a modest reduction in deaths” – Sandrock
ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) is the underlying side effect which makes COVID-19 so deadly. The inflammation ARDS causes can prevent lungs from being able to fill with air, effectively suffocating patients1. This is why ventilators are effective, but only to a certain extent. The goal of researchers at the moment, is to find a drug that will alleviate that inflammation, allowing ventilators to work more effectively.
Sabizabulin, a drug commonly used to treat SARS-CoV-2 patients, is the leading prospect for the FDAs solution, as well as the main talking point for the committees meeting. According to the research done my Sandrock’s team, Sabizabulin is highly efficient at relaxing swollen tissue and boosting the immune systems of high-risk patients.
“Sabizabulin is intended for use in hospitalized, high risk or ‘non-negligible risk of death’ patients” - Sandrock
The biggest variable being reviewed right now is the benefit/risk factor of Sabizabulin. Sandrock’s team firmly believes that the evidence compiled in pulmonary experiments are highly favorable for the use of Sabizabulin. Their research showed that the sixty-day survival rate of high risk patients was increased by more than 20%.
This may seem like a small margin, but the difference between a 60% and 80% survival rate might spell the difference between a four-figure and a three-figure death rate. Sandrock’s team is extremely hopeful to see positive results from this cutting-edge drug.
“The risk-beinfit assessment is overwhelmingly positive with reductions in death observed in the overall population and in all subgroups analyzed.” – Sandrock
More research still needs to be made before Sabizabulin can be administered to the general public, but the success of the drug so far inspires hope in medical professionals. While the end to this pandemic is still being searched for, we can start to see a light at the end of this seemingly never-ending tunnel. Until then though, we must stay vigilant.
“COVID is still a public health emergency”
This was the closing remarks of Chief Medical Officer, Mitchell Steiner, as he made sure to express the bottom line: we are not out of the woods yet. This winter has the potential to be just as rough as its predecessors. This is why it is more important than ever to get vaccinated and boosted, the fate of hundreds of thousands of lives could hang in the balance.
Mitchell Steiner closed the meeting by echoing a phrase that medical professionals have been repeating since day one of this pandemic:
“I really wish I had a crystal ball that told me where this pandemic is going to go, but we just have to prepare for the worst-case scenario”
Work Cited
1. “Ards.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 3 Aug. 2022, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ards/symptoms-causes/syc-20355576.
2. “CDC Covid Data Tracker.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home.