COVID 治療 has 改善するd, but many wish for an 平易な pill
If Priscila Medina had gotten COVID-19 a year ago, she would have had no 治療s proven 安全な and 効果的な to try. But when the 30-year-old nurse arrived at a Long Island hospital last month, so short of breath she could barely talk, doctors knew just what to do.
They quickly arranged for her to get a novel 麻薬 that 供給（する）s ウイルス-封鎖するing antibodies, and "by the next day I was able to get up and move around," she said. After two days, "I really started turning the corner. I was にわか雨ing, eating, playing with my son."
治療s like these can help newly 診断するd 患者s 避ける 入院, but they are grossly underused because they 要求する an IV. Other 薬／医学s for sicker 患者s can 速度(を上げる） 回復, but only a few 改善する 生き残り.
While ワクチンs are helping to 抑制（する） the pandemic, easier and better 治療s are needed, 特に as ウイルス variants spread.
"We´re seeing more and more young people get into serious trouble ... serious 病気 要求するing 入院, and occasionally even 悲劇の deaths," the U.S. 政府´s 最高の，を越す 感染性の 病気 専門家, Dr. Anthony Fauci, recently told the 国家の 圧力（をかける） Club.
The biggest need is for a convenient 薬／医学 such as a pill "that can 妨げる people with symptoms from getting worse and needing 入院," he said.
Priscilla Medina 提起する／ポーズをとるs for a portrait in her home in Queens in New York on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. After 存在 exposed and 苦しむing 厳しい symptoms from COVID-19, If Medina had gotten COVID-19 a year earlier, she would have had no 治療s proven 安全な and 効果的な to try. But when the 30-year-old nurse arrived at a Long Island hospital in March 2021, so short of breath she could barely talk, doctors knew just what to do. They quickly arranged for her to get a novel 麻薬 that 供給（する）s ウイルス-封鎖するing antibodies, and "by the next day I was able to get up and move around," she said. After two days, "I really started turning the corner. I was にわか雨ing, eating, playing with my son." (AP Photo/Marshall Ritzel)
Here´s a look at what's on the horizon and the 選択s now.
A PILL ON THE WAY?
Developing 麻薬s for respiratory 病気s is 堅い, partly because doses have to be high enough for the 薬／医学 to reach 深い into the 肺s yet not so high that they're 有毒な.
研究 on 治療s also was slower because the U.S. 政府 最初 gave 優先 to ワクチンs. It wasn't until the end of April 2020 that the first COVID-19 治療 showed 利益 in a big 政府-sponsored 熟考する／考慮する.
That 麻薬 - remdesivir, sold as Veklury by Gilead Sciences Inc. - remains the only one 認可するd for COVID-19 in the U.S., though some others, such as the one Medina received, are 権限を与えるd for 緊急 use.
Remdesivir also is the only antiviral COVID-19 薬／医学 - it 干渉するs with ウイルス reproduction - and "we really, really need a bunch more," 国家の 学校／設けるs of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins said at a 最近の セミナー.
Several companies, 含むing Pfizer, Roche and AstraZeneca, are 実験（する）ing antivirals in pill form. Farthest along is molnupiravir, from Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. It doesn't seem to help 入院させるd 患者s but shows 約束 in いっそう少なく sick ones, and a large 熟考する／考慮する should give results this 落ちる, the companies said.
If it pans out, it could be taken at home when symptoms first appear, 類似の to how antiviral 麻薬s for the flu are used now. The NIH also is 捜し出すing a home-use 選択 in a 熟考する／考慮する that is 実験（する）ing up to seven 麻薬s already used for other 病気s.
Even ワクチンs are 存在 tried as 治療s. Some people with "long COVID" said their ぐずぐず残る symptoms 改善するd after ワクチン接種.
OPTIONS FOR OUTPATIENTS
There´s one choice now: Antibody 麻薬s, which can 削減（する） the chances of needing to be 入院させるd by 70% if given within 10 days of the start of symptoms. Eli Lilly and Regeneron 製薬のs are 権限を与えるd to 供給（する） their 治療s to 患者s at high 危険 of serious illness, and the U.S. 政府 供給するs them for 解放する／自由な, though there is いつかs a 料金 for the IV.
Antibodies are made by the 免疫の system to fight the ウイルス, but it takes weeks after 感染 for them to form. The 麻薬s 供給（する） lab-made 見解／翻訳／版s that can help 権利 away. Combinations of antibodies are 存在 used now because some ウイルス variants can 避ける 選び出す／独身 ones.
需要・要求する for these 麻薬s has been shockingly low -- many 患者s don´t know about them, doctors and hospitals 最初 weren´t 始める，決める up to give them, and IVs are inconvenient, though Regeneron has also 実験（する）d giving its 治療 as 発射s.
"This is really life-saving therapy. We think it has tremendous 適切な時期 to be used more," said Dr. Donald Yealy, 緊急 薬／医学 長，指導者 at the University of Pittsburgh 医療の 中心.
"You don´t have to be really sick" to get it, and many 患者s hesitate because they think they will 回復する without i t but suddenly get worse, he said.
It happened to Medina, a labor and 配達／演説／出産 nurse at Long Island ユダヤ人の 医療の 中心 in New York.
"When I thought I´d be getting better, things 現実に started getting worse," she said. "It was very scary. I felt very short of breath. I could barely speak."
Her hospital arranged for her to get the antibody 治療 at nearby North Shore University Hospital, which had a 医療の テント with IV 駅／配置するs to 扱う／治療する many people at once, and she 回復するd at home.
HOSPITAL-BASED TREATMENT
The severity of symptoms 決定するs the 選択s, and タイミング 事柄s - 確かな 麻薬s can be life-saving at one point and harmful at another.
Remdesivir is used for 患者s who need extra oxygen but not breathing machines. In 熟考する／考慮するs, it 削減（する） the time to 回復 by five days on 普通の／平均（する）, from 15 days to 10. But it hasn´t been shown to 改善する 生き残り, so a World Health Organization 指導基準s パネル盤 …に反対するs use of the pricey 麻薬.
The only 薬／医学s that do 上げる 生き残り are dexamethasone and 類似の steroids for 患者s sick enough to need extra oxygen and 集中的な care. If used earlier, when 患者s are only mildly ill, they can do 害（を与える）.
"早期に on, you want the 免疫の system to fight the ウイルス," so 治療 is 目的（とする）d at helping that happen, Fauci explained. As illness goes on, the 免疫の system may become overactive and people can die from that. A host of 麻薬s that blunt inflammation and other 免疫の 返答s are 存在 tried for this later 行う／開催する／段階 of illness.
The NIH says 十分な doses of 血 thinners such as heparin may help people who are moderately ill 避ける breathing machines or other 組織／臓器 support. Nearly all 入院させるd COVID-19 患者s get low doses now to 妨げる 血 clots. 研究 示唆するs that higher doses can help people who are not yet 批判的に ill, but could 害（を与える） those who are very sick.
LESSONS LEARNED
Doctors now know that some things don't work, 含むing the malaria 麻薬 hydroxychloroquine. That can be as important as knowing what to try, said the Cleveland Clinic´s Dr. Adarsh Bhimraj, who helps develop 治療 指導基準s for the 感染性の 病気s Society of America.
"We still have misinformation about COVID-19 therapies" that is 誤って導くing 患者s and doctors alike, he said.
Dr. Rajesh Gandhi, a Massachusetts General Hospital 内科医 also helping with 指導基準s, said "tremendous 科学の 進歩" has been made in one year. Doctors no longer need to take "a kitchen 沈む approach," or trying many things in the hope that one will help, he said.
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The Associated 圧力（をかける） Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes 医療の 学校／設ける´s Department of Science Education. The AP is 単独で 責任がある all content.
Priscilla Medina stands with her husband, Jason Sanchez, and her son in the Rego Park 近隣 of Queens in New York on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. If Medina had gotten COVID-19 a year earlier, s he would have had no 治療s proven 安全な and 効果的な to try. But when the 30-year-old nurse arrived at a Long Island hospital in March 2021, so short of breath she could barely talk, doctors knew just what to do. They quickly arranged for her to get a novel 麻薬 that 供給（する）s ウイルス-封鎖するing antibodies, and "by the next day I was able to get up and move around," she said. After two days, "I really started turning the corner. I was にわか雨ing, eating, playing with my son." (AP Photo/Marshall Ritzel)
Priscilla Medina spends time with her son in the Rego Park 近隣 of Queens in New York on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. If Medina had gotten COVID-19 a year earlier, she would have had no 治療s proven 安全な and 効果的な to try. But when the 30-year-old nurse arrived at a Long Island hospital in March 2021, so short of breath she could barely talk, doctors knew just what to do. They quickly arranged for her to get a novel 麻薬 that 供給（する）s ウイルス-封鎖するing antibodies, and "by the next day I wa s able to get up and move around," she said. After two days, "I really started turning the corner. I was にわか雨ing, eating, playing with my son." (AP Photo/Marshall Ritzel)
