Category Archives: COVID-19

Even More Brutal

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Michael Froomkin

So brutal it’s hard to watch, especially if you’ve ever been a hospital patient or had to visit one.

Hospital by the Lincoln Project.

Previously: Brutal – But Only the Beginning and The Brutality Continues.

Posted in 2020 Election, COVID-19, Trump | Comments Off

Let’s All Hope Trump Recovers

Posted on October 3, 2020 by Michael Froomkin

Both Dangerous

There are two main reasons why we should all hope that Donald J. Trump recovers from COVID-19.

The first is that we should never wish death on people, even people we may dislike intensively for all the evil they have done. (Similarly, we should condemn those who seek to dehumanize their opponents. This is why I condemn the practice, common in certain parts of the Internet, of referring to Trump as ‘the Trumpanzee’.)

The second is that were Trump to die, Vice-President Pence would become the Republican candidate for President in the next election. I am aware that this is not a legal inevitability, but it is, from what I know of the convoluted mechanisms by which the party would have to replace him, a practical certainty.

Trump is losing this election, and I cannot imagine that some great national bounce of sympathy for an irony of Sophoclean proportions will change that. But Pence, for all that he was a failed Governor and remains a religious zealot, is largely a blank slate to most voters. Maybe the upcoming Vice-Presidential candidates’ debate will substantially change that, but probably not. And a blank slate is a chance to reboot. If nothing else, it would be a chance to peel off the voters who were voting against Trump as a person rather than Trumpism as a program.

It might be that many people would say Pence was compromised by his years of silence and sycophancy. Others might view it as loyalty, misguided or not. And the right-wing evangelical vote would flock to the polls.

Ask yourself this: what would Never Trumpers like the Lincoln Project do if Pence were the candidate? Would they shift targets or fold their tents? I don’t want to find out.

Posted in 2020 Election, COVID-19 | 5 Comments

Former Pence Staffer Repents, Recants

Posted on September 17, 2020 by Michael Froomkin

“At this point, it’s country over party.” [Update: alternate link 1 & alternate link 2]

Pity that RVAT (“Republican Voters Against Trump”) looks so much like “RAT”.

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Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Michael Froomkin

University Of Pittsburgh Scientists Discover Biomolecule That May Neutralize Coronavirus (Warning: Loud video starts automatically):

University of Pittsburgh scientists have isolated a biomolecule that “completely and specifically” neutralizes the virus that causes coronavirus.

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers isolated the smallest biological molecule to date that neutralizes the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a report published Monday in the journal Cell. The antibody component is 10 times smaller than a full-sized antibody and has been used to create a drug known as Ab8 for use as a therapeutic and preventative against SARS-CoV-2, the report says.

The researchers reported that Ab8 is “highly effective” in preventing and treating SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice and hamsters.

I think — although the publication date is Sept 4, not Monday — the Cell article is the one titled, High potency of a bivalent human VH domain in SARS-CoV-2 animal models. (PDF) Its summary is a heavier lift:

We generated a phage-displayed human antibody VH domain library from which we identified a high-affinity VH binder ab8. Bivalent VH, VH-Fc ab8 bound with high avidity to membrane-associated S glycoprotein and to mutants found in patients. It potently neutralized mouse adapted SARS-CoV-2 in wild type mice at a dose as low as 2 mg/kg and exhibited high prophylactic and therapeutic efficacy in a hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, possibly enhanced by its relatively small size. Electron microscopy combined with scanning mutagenesis identified ab8 interactions with all three S protomers and showed how ab8 neutralized the virus by directly interfering with ACE2 binding. VH-Fc ab8 did not aggregate and did not bind to 5300 human membrane-associated proteins. The potent neutralization activity of VH-Fc ab8 combined with good developability properties and cross-reactivity to SARS-CoV-2 mutants provide a strong rationale for its evaluation as a COVID-19 therapeutic.

Incidentally, on Sept. 14, Cell published Structurally resolved SARS-CoV-2 antibody shows high efficacy in severely infected hamsters and provides a potent cocktail pairing strategy, which also sounds promising:

Understanding how potent neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) inhibit SARS-CoV-2 is critical for effective therapeutic development. We previously described BD-368-2, a SARS-CoV-2 NAb with high potency; however, its neutralization mechanism is largely unknown. Here we report the 3.5-Å cryo-EM structure of BD-368-2/trimeric-spike complex, revealing that BD-368-2 fully blocks ACE2 recognition by occupying all three receptor-binding domains (RBDs) simultaneously, regardless of their “up” or “down” conformations. Also, BD-368-2 treats infected adult hamsters at low dosages and at various administering windows, in contrast to placebo hamsters that manifested severe interstitial pneumonia. Moreover, BD-368-2’s epitope completely avoids the common binding site of VH3-53/VH3-66 recurrent NAbs, evidenced by tripartite co-crystal structures with RBD. Pairing BD-368-2 with a potent recurrent NAb neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus at pM level and rescues mutation-induced neutralization escapes. Together, our results rationalized a new RBD epitope that leads to high neutralization potency and demonstrated BD-368-2’s therapeutic potential in treating COVID-19.

A PDF preprint is available online.

Posted in COVID-19 | 2 Comments