Medics at the Royal London and Whipps Cross hospitals are leading a national trial that will offer people with type 1 or 2 diabetes who are admitted for treatment for covid an additional therapy.One in three deaths from covid in English hospitals have been associated with diabetes, as a result of such patients typically having problems with high blood sugar levels.
The drug, AZD1656, was originally developed by Astra Zeneca for another use and has been used to treat kidney transplant patients. But it has not become a standard treatment for the control of blood sugars as its benefits tend to wear off after several months.
Relief Therapeutics Seeks U.S. Emergency Approval for Drug Against COVID-19
Relief Therapeutics said on Wednesday it and U.S. partner NeuroRx asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency approval for a drug it aims to repurpose against COVID-19, citing a 51-person study the Swiss drugmaker said showed the medicine helped sick patients.
“Patients treated with RLF-100 demonstrated a 3-fold advantage in survival, recovery from respiratory failure, and other parameters indicative of meaningful clinical improvement,” the company said in a statement, adding the request, if granted, would make the drug — previously used against conditions including erectile dysfunction — available to those in intensive care who have exhausted all approved treatments.