Effective, Non-vaccine COVID Treatment May be Ready by Fall
Former south Louisiana Congressman and international pharma lobby head Billy Tauzin believes there will be an effective, non-vaccine treatment for COVID-19 as early as September.
Tauzin says over 100 different treatments are being tested right now that could do everything from reducing the severity of COVID-19 to giving recipients temporary immunity.
“If we could begin inoculating all healthy people with the anti-bodies we could begin to deal with this thing in ways that could let us open up the country and go back to work,” says Tauzin.
Tauzin says those treatments are focused on three categories: plasma infusions from COVID survivors, “decoy” proteins, and lab-created antibodies.
“Instead of asking your own body to produce those antibodies you get it in a shot,” says Tauzin.
Tauzin notes current plasma treatments appear to be effective for about 50 percent of patients.
Experts note a vaccine may not be ready until 2021, and Tauzin says these treatments could help us weather what could be a severe second wave of the virus later this year.
“So in effect we could inoculate all of our healthcare workers, our military people, our essential workers, and give them protection from the disease while we wait for a vaccine,” says Tauzin.
Tauzin made the comments on Talk Louisiana.