While the coronavirus has impacted millions of Americans across the United States, it has hit the elderly population particularly hard. In fact, more than 40 percent of coronavirus deaths in the U.S. have been linked to long-term care facilities, according to a New York Times survey. In an effort to bring those numbers down, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has just launched a late-stage antibody treatment trial focusing on residents and staff at nursing homes.
"COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on nursing home residents," Lilly's chief scientific officer Daniel Skovronsky said in a statement. "We're working as fast as we can to create medicines that might stop the spread of the virus to these vulnerable individuals."
The trial is expected to enroll up to 2,400 participants who live or work at a facility and have recently been diagnosed with the disease. The trial will evaluate the safety and success of using LY-CoV555, a potent, neutralizing antibody that works against the spike protein of the novel coronavirus. The trial will look at whether a single dose of the antibody treatment reduces the rate of infection over four weeks as well as symptoms over eight weeks.
"The importance of these kinds of therapies for people like the elderly or immunocompromised is that they can provide the hope and the safety net that these people really need right now," said Andrew Adams, vice president of new therapeutic modalities & COVID-19 research at Eli Lilly, who is overseeing the trial. "I think people in those populations are really desperate and looking for something to help with the coronavirus."
Eli Lilly is taking its trial on the road with customized mobile research units that can travel directly to areas that are experiencing outbreaks.
"This is an interesting solution, to bring the medicine to these vulnerable patients," said Adams. "This lets us be flexible and move these trials around the country, tracking these trials as we come across them."
Adams said he is hoping Eli Lilly will have results on the efficacy of these antibodies in the fourth quarter of this year. Even if successful, though, he says research for a vaccine needs to continue.
"These have to be thought of as more of a bridge, where a vaccine provides long-term protection in terms of years of immunity, where we will provide hopefully in the range of months with these types of treatments. We hope this to be a short-term bridge to the long-term effective vaccination," he said.
Alysa McCall, director of conservation outreach and staff scientist at Polar Bears International, joined Cheddar to discuss the ongoing fight to protect polar bears from extinction while world leaders gathered to discuss the climate crisis. McCall explained her organization's mission "to ensure the long term survival of polar bears by helping ensure their arctic sea ice habitat remains intact." McCall said she hopes actionable steps are taken after the UN climate summit to mitigate the crisis and not just more promises.
Moderna reported a massive miss on revenue in its Q3 earnings, taking in $5 billion versus the expected $6.21 billion despite sales of the COVID-19 vaccine. The pharmaceutical giant's stock dropped sharply on the news.
Carlo and Baker discuss the fallout from Tuesday's election and the flashing warning sign for Dems ahead of the midterms. Also, a big 2A case at the Supreme Court, Aaron Rodgers has Covid and is in big trouble, and a first for the MCU.
Carlo and Baker discuss the election results across the country, including a Republican comeback in Virginia -- and possibly NJ -- plus the CDC gives the go-ahead for child vaccinations, Atlanta wins the World Series and more.
Dr. Julie Morita, executive vice president of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, joined Cheddar to discuss the CDC advisory panel recommending the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5-11. "We've seen many millions of children getting sick, many hospitalized, many dying because of COVID," Morita said. "And so now we have a new tool that we can use to keep our children safe." She also noted that hesitancy among parents about vaccinating their children will likely fade in time as the childhood vaccine program gets underway.
Matthew Oxenford, Analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, joins a special edition of Cheddar Climate, where he discusses the responsibilities big businesses across multiple sectors have when it comes to combating the effects of climate change around the world.
President Joe Biden introduced the Global Methane Pledge on the second day of the United Nations climate summit. The U.S. and the European Union will lead the way when it comes to methane emissions reductions, and close to 100 nations have also signed on. It's seen as the fastest way to slow down global warming and keep nations on track toward meeting the goal of keeping warming just 1.5 degrees Celsius above late 1800s atmospheric levels. Dr. Sweta Chakraborty, U.S. President of climate-focused startup 'We Don't Have Time' joins Cheddar Climate to discuss the importance of the Biden administration's methane regulations -- and the importance of U.S. leadership when it comes to climate issues.
John Paul Mejia, the national spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement, joined Cheddar to talk about what the youth activist group wants to see from President Joe Biden as he attends the COP26 climate summit. Mejia admonished the president for having little to deliver on his own climate agenda domestically while at the conference. "We need the president to follow through with his promises because, frankly, it's a matter of life or death not only for communities here in the United States but also those looking to us around the world," he said.
With COP26 kicking off, roughly 120 world leaders and delegates are in Glasgow, Scotland to hold climate talks this week. As experts continue to warn about the dangers of climate change, ESG investing is more important than ever.
Georges Archibald, Head of Apex Americas at Apex Group joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Roughly 20,000 heads of state, diplomats, and activists will gather in person starting Oct. 31 to address the threat of climate change. The summit, known as COP26, is seen as a crucial step in getting the crisis under control as scientists warn global warming is only getting worse. Carroll Muffett, President and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law, joined Cheddar to explain the goals of COP26 and why it's so crucial for the world leaders to step up and make new, aggressive climate commitments.
