Cold plasma against coronavirus

Many seriously ill COVID-19 patients must contend with more than just the coronavirus. Approximately half of the people who were mechanically ventilated yet still died had acquired additional infections in hospital. Cold plasma therapy could prevent these superinfections and reduce the risk of hospital staff becoming infected with coronavirus. Preliminary tests carried out by terraplasma medical GmbH, the subsidiary of the Max Planck spin-off terraplasma, suggest that cold atmospheric plasma (i.e. weakly ionized air) can render SARS-CoV-2 harmless in cell cultures. In order to clarify whether cold plasma can actually help treat COVID-19, investigations in both cell cultures and COVID-19 patients have been initiated together with various partners.

Plasma is the fuel of the stars. In a highly diluted cold variant, ionized gas—or more precisely, ionized air—inactivates bacteria in chronically infected wounds. As studies, conducted with various partners by Julia Zimmermann, CMO, have already shown in the past, atmospheric plasma can also inactivate viruses, like noro- and adenoviruses in solution. It could also help treat COVID-19 patients. “The initial tests suggest that cold atmospheric plasma kills corona viruses in solution,” says Jens Kirsch, CEO of terraplasma medical. “This is particularly interesting for us because the viruses are also found in fluids—for example, saliva—on mucous membranes.”
The researchers from terraplasma medical carried out the first investigations together with a team led by Albrecht von Brunn, a scientist at the Max von Pettenkofer Institute of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich. The preliminary results, which suggest that cold plasma can kill the coronavirus, have prompted terraplasma medical to conduct further studies. Together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, terraplasma medical will carry out comprehensive analyses how cold atmospheric plasma affects viruses in cell cultures. Terraplasma medical is also planning studies on patients together with hospitals of the University of Regensburg and the LMU. Because the researchers can build on previous investigations, the clinical trials are possible without the usual animal experiments. “We already know that cold plasmas do not damage the mucous membranes if we use the correct plasma design and the dose does not exceed certain limits,” says Gregor Morfill, former Director of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, founder of terraplasma, and scientific consultant of terraplasma medical.
Can cold plasma also prevent the virus from spreading to the lungs?
By conducting the clinical trials, the researchers hope to answer various questions. They want to clarify whether treatment with cold plasma can prevent mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients from becoming infected with hospital germs (thus considerably improving the chances of a cure) as well as whether ionized air significantly reduces the viral load in the mouth, nose, and throat of these patients. This could additionally help to reduce the risk of infection for medical staff in intensive care units. “We hope that in the long term we will also be able to prevent the virus from spreading from the mouth, nose, and throat to the lower respiratory tract of COVID-19 patients whose lungs are still free of the virus,” says Kirsch. “We could thus reduce the number of COVID-19 patients requiring treatment in intensive care units or mechanical ventilation.”
In order to be able to use the cold plasma in the upper respiratory tract, terraplasma medical has converted a device used to treat chronically infected wounds. However, before doctors can treat the first COVID-19 patients, the clinical trials must first be approved by the respective ethics committee. “We expect the first results in six to seven months,” says Gregor Morfill.

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Image: Cold plasma tested on ISS

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https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-cold-plasma-coronavirus.html

Houston on ‘Precipice of Disaster’ as Virus Cases Spread

Houston-area officials said they are “getting close” to reimposing a stay-at-home order and prepared to reopen a Covid-19 hospital established but never used at a football stadium as virus cases expand in the fourth-largest U.S. city.
The announcement by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Thursday came a day after the Lone Star state recorded its highest one-day tally of new cases since the pandemic emerged.

“We may be approaching the precipice of a disaster,” said Hidalgo, the highest-ranking county executive. “It’s out of hand right now. The good news is it’s not severe out of hand.”
The warnings of a worsening outbreak reinforced alarms sounded by national health officials over the risk of a second wave of infections beyond the initial U.S. hot spots led by New York and New Jersey. Texas has been among the states pushing hardest to ease lockdowns imposed during the first wave of a disease that has killed more than 113,000 Americans.

President Donald Trump visited Dallas on Thursday for a meeting with religious leaders, business owners and law enforcement officials before attending a fundraiser.

Stadium Hospital

Harris County, which encompasses Houston and adjacent suburbs, also instituted what it called a public health threat level assessment that will alert residents if conditions worsen or improve. The level remains at the second-highest on the four-tier scale.
The ad hoc medical facility opened at NRG Stadium on the city’s south side will be reestablished if pressure on the local hospital system becomes “severe,” Hidalgo said in a meeting with reporters.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-11/houston-may-reopen-virus-hospital-at-stadium-as-cases-expand

FDA OKs Viela Bio’s inebilizumab for rare nervous system disorder

The FDA approves Viela Bio’s (NASDAQ:VIE) Uplizna (inebilizumab-cdon) for the treatment of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) in adults who harbor an antibody called anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4).

NMOSD is a rare autoimmune disorder that primarily affects the eye nerves and spinal cord and can lead to blindness and weakness or paralysis in the extremities or other problems linked to spinal cord damage. It can be associated with antibodies that bind to AQP4 which appears to activate the immune system causing inflammation and damage to the central nervous system.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3582469-fda-oks-viela-bios-inebilizumab-for-rare-nervous-system-disorder

AstraZeneca taps Emergent Biosolutions for COVID-19 vaccine production

AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) will work with Emergent Biosolutions (NYSE:EBS) to help produce the 300M doses of ADZ1222 that AZN has pledged to the U.S.

The candidate was the first to advance into Phase 2 development. Preliminary data should be available no later than next month.

Earlier today, EBS announced an $87M deal with AZN for development services, technology transfer, analytical testing, drug substance process and performance qualification as well as reserving large-scale production capacity through this year.

Last week, EBS inked a $628M contract with the U.S. government to accelerate the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3582463-astrazeneca-taps-emergent-biosolutions-for-covidminus-19-vaccine-production

Food Prices Soar In May: What You Need To Know

Food prices as a whole rose at the fastest pace in 46 years in May, with some categories experiencing double-digit gains.
Food prices away from home were up 4.8% year-over-year in May. Beef prices were the most impacted in May, up 18.2% year-over-year, Fox Business’ Kristina Partsinevelos reported.
The surge is due to disruptions in the supply chain, as several meat processors were forced to go offline. Even though many processors are back online, production is still running behind.
The meats, poultry, fish, and eggs category was up 10%, followed by a 5.7% jump in dairy products. Cereal and flour prices were lower in May, in part due to consumer fatigue.
Consumers may have to deal with elevated grocery costs for some time, and perhaps even double-digit spikes, “The Supermarket Guru” Phil Lempert told Fox Business.
Grocery stores themselves are experiencing higher costs from health and safety upgrades and will pass that on to consumers, he said.
“We are going to see this year the highest food prices that we’ve seen in decades.”
Food companies are the obvious beneficiary from higher prices, along with grocers, CNBC’s Sara Eisen reported.
There are signs food prices are near a peak, especially as restaurants re-open and consumers are no longer hoarding as much food as they did a few months ago, Eisen said.
But this could change quickly, especially if there is a “second wave” of infections later on in the year.
https://www.benzinga.com/news/20/06/16236015/food-prices-soar-in-may-what-you-need-to-know

What doctors need to address about parents’ school reopening concerns

As state and local officials look to reopen schools in the fall, pediatricians and primary care doctors will likely field a lot of questions from worried parents about whether it’s safe to send their children back to classrooms amid the coronavirus.
Will children have to wear masks? What about sports and after-school activities? And how do you keep six-year-olds from hugging their friends and touching their faces?
The challenges of reopening K-12 schools in the fall was the subject of a recent viewpoint published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The piece, which outlines measures that schools should take to minimize risk, was written by Joshua Sharfstein, M.D., vice dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Christopher Morphew, Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins School of Education.

“It’s important for people to understand that there’s nothing that is perfectly safe. No activity, including staying home, is perfectly safe,” Sharfstein told Howard Bauchner, M.D., editor-in-chief of JAMA, in a recent interview.

School, state and local officials need to be honest with parents about the risks and the measures being taken to keep the risk as low as possible, he said.
“At school, basic screening is probably appropriate,” Sharfstein said.
Schools should use paraprofessionals—such as nursing aides and other trained staff— to screen children quickly on arrival, make hand-washing and other supplies readily available and adopt schedules for cleaning high-touch areas and disinfecting classrooms with appropriate protective equipment for maintenance staff, the researchers said in the viewpoint.
Following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, protocols at schools will likely involve spacing classroom desks six feet apart, keeping groups of children together throughout the day to limit mixing, staggering drop-offs and pickups, closing common areas and canceling extracurricular activities that require close contact.
Staff and older students should wear cloth face coverings, particularly when it is difficult to maintain distancing.
“In terms of masks, we need to recognize that some ages it’s just not possible,” he said. “There needs to be a strong understanding with parents that if anyone at home is sick then the child doesn’t come to school as the child could be asymptomatic.”
Parents need to do a check-in every morning to see whether their children have symptoms and whether other family members are ill at home.
The jury is still out on whether children are more or less contagious than adults, Sharfstein said, with recent research suggesting kids are less likely to spread the virus.
Sports and after-school activities will need to be considered on a case-by-case basis, with the understanding that after-school programs are beneficial to parents who need their kids to have supervision until they get off work.
“From a public health standpoint, each one has to be analyzed on its own and asked if it can be made safer. With choir practice, that activity may not be in the cards this year. Other types of clubs and activities could exist with social distancing in areas with a low level of community transmission,” Sharfstein said.

Despite the risks, reopening schools this fall is an urgent national priority, the researchers said.
“What kids get from schools is not just the three ‘Rs.’ With schools closed, children have lost access to health services through school-based health centers. More than 20 million children rely on school breakfast or lunch,” Sharfstein said.
Attending school impacts a child’s social and emotional development, he said.
“Teachers and other school officials recognize one in five cases of concern for child abuse. All those cases aren’t being reported now, he said.
School district leaders will need to consult with state and local officials, parents, teachers unions and other employees to develop a strategy for reopening. That strategy will need to focus on facility needs, transportation, staffing and education curricula.
“It’s like an emergency response decision-making structure that schools should adopt,” Sharfstein said.

School districts will need to be prepared to adopt a hybrid approach that combines physical in-class learning and remote learning, especially if there is a spike in COVID-19 cases in their communities, the researchers said.
Some parents and students will view the risk as too high and should have the opportunity for online learning, Sharfstein said.
There are many kids who lack access to broadband internet. School systems should make on-site education a high priority for kids who experience barriers to remote learning, students who receive special education services or nutritional support at school and younger children.
“One approach that districts need to think about is the idea that some children at some age levels learn better remotely. Think about high-schoolers versus elementary-age school children. We know elementary-age children don’t do as well with remote learning,” Morphew said.
Both researchers said massive funding from the federal government will be needed to give states and local school districts the resources needed to put all these measures in place.
“The staffing needs, the facility needs, the technological needs, all of these things are labor-intensive and resource-intensive. Keeping kids in different groups will require more teachers. We’ve seen evidence that this strategy works in Norway and Finland as they have reopened,” Morphew said.
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/practices/what-physicians-need-to-know-about-schools-reopening-fall

Appeals court rejects AFL-CIO lawsuit over lack of COVID-19 labor protections

A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected the AFL-CIO’s emergency lawsuit against the Trump administration for failing to enact stronger labor protections amid the coronavirus crisis.
A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a two-page order saying that the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has the authority to decide whether to issue new rules during the pandemic.
“In light of the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the regulatory tools that the OSHA has at its disposal to ensure that employers are maintaining hazard-free work environments … the OSHA reasonably determined that an ETS [emergency temporary standard] is not necessary at this time,” the panel said in its order.

The labor group filed an emergency petition with the D.C. Circuit less than a month ago, accusing OSHA of ignoring calls for urgently needed labor rules to protect workers vulnerable to the coronavirus.
“COVID-19’s toll in mortality and morbidity among workers and the general public has exceeded the expectations of many prognosticators,” lawyers for the AFL-CIO wrote in their petition.
“Yet in a stunning act of agency nonfeasance in the midst of a workplace health emergency of a magnitude not seen in this country for over a century (if ever), OSHA has neither responded directly to, nor taken formal action on, either of the two pending ETS petitions, nor has it shown any inclination to adopt mandatory, legally-enforceable, COVID-19-specific rules to protect workers.”
But the lawsuit faced an uphill battle considering the amount of deference that the courts grant to federal agencies.
“We are very disappointed that three judges did not deem the lives of America’s workers worthy of holding an argument or issuing a full opinion,” AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said in a statement responding to the decision.

“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s post-it length response to our petition acknowledges the ‘unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic’ but repeats the false claim by Big Business that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration already has done what is needed to protect workers,” he added.

The AFL-CIO and a coalition of labor unions had urged Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia in March to enact stronger rules for protecting workers and to require employers to report to the agency when their workers tested positive for the coronavirus.
Scalia responded in a letter saying that his agency had issued strong guidelines to protect workers and that the labor groups’ proposal would unnecessarily “burden employers and overwhelm OSHA with information.”
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/502249-appeals-court-rejects-afl-cio-lawsuit-over-lack-of-covid-19-labor