UPDATED, after Trump presser — the FDA weighs in on Sunday night, thus: “…The FDA continues to recommend that the designs of ongoing randomized clinical trials of COVID-19 convalescent plasma… remain unaltered, as COVID-19 convalescent plasma does not yet represent a new standard of care, based on the current available evidence….”
So, I see Mr. Hinderaker now thinks clinical trial good practices… are — in some unexplained manner — “Trump Derangement Syndrome”… me? Trusting real bio-science, I decline this invitation to join in John’s… delusions.
End, update.
I will say very little about this, since it really won’t change things much. And even with 70,000 patients in the trial, it is not immensely clear that the benefit is… durable. But there is a statistically significant benefit, based on early data.
So this gets added to a now-emerging suite of approaches — but it is no game changer. We may confidently predict that Trump will… lie about it, vastly overstating its importance — primarily to boost his own increasingly fragile ego, as he enters a lack-luster convention week. Here it is, as the Wa Po captures it, in real time:
…On the eve of the Republican National Convention where President Trump hopes to revive his flagging political fortunes, he will announce the emergency authorization of convalescent plasma for covid-19, a treatment that already has been given to more than 70,000 patients, according to officials familiar with the decision….
Y A W N. I do support finding the sweet-spots, in therapy — for this scourge, but I oppose the president’s political hectoring — about it all. Onward, grinning — at what a completely feckless idiot Trump is…. Bike time — by the lake — in the sunshine, now!
नमस्ते
Powerline Lies... 