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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Merck Scraps COVID Vaccines; Says It's More Effective To Get The Virus And Recover
2021-01-28
[Summit] Vaccine manufacturer Merck has abandoned development of two coronavirus vaccines, saying that after extensive research it was concluded that the shots offered less protection than just contracting the virus itself and developing antibodies.

The company announced that the shots V590 and V591 were ’well tolerated’ by test patients, however they generated an ’inferior’ immune system response in comparison with natural infection.
This frequently happens in drug development: you get into a race and your product isn't a winner. Usually you just fold the project and terminate or reassign everyone on the team.
The company stated that instead it will focus on research into therapeutic drugs labeled as MK-7110 and MK-4482. The drugs aim to protect patients from the damage of an overactive immune response to the virus.

"Interim results from a Phase 3 study showed a greater than 50 percent reduction in the risk of death or respiratory failure in patients hospitalized with moderate to severe COVID-19," the company’s statement noted of the MK-7110 drug.

Merck is to receive around $356 million from the US government to fast-track production of the potential treatments under Operation Warp Speed. Chief Marketing Officer Michael Nally recently told Bloomberg that Merck is aiming to produce some 20 million courses of the MK-4482 drug, an oral antiviral which patients will take twice a day for five days.
We'll need to see the data, but we'd better get something for our $356 million...
Meanwhile, in related news, German scientists have claimed that the UK Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is less than 8% effective in over 65s, prompting the vaccine developers to hit back, rubbishing the claims. The German media published the claims, alleging it had been ’confirmed’ by ’multiple’ unnamed senior German government sources.
Any relation to 'unnamed senior American government sources'?
UK government ministers have suggested that the claim could be related to the ongoing dispute over delivery of the vaccine between the European Union and AstraZeneca. The EU, which is yet to approve the vaccine, has threatened to block exports of shots to Britain, in a move that has been branded ’spiteful’ by British government sources.

In an effort to make sure its member states get their ’fair share’ of vaccines, the EU has also threatened to block the delivery of Pfizer vaccines to the UK, demanding that drug companies provide detailed information on when they plan to export Covid jabs to countries outside the bloc.
Posted by:Besoeker

#11  It’s not a vaccine. It’s an experimental biological agent.
Posted by: Speng Snaviting6874   2021-01-28 22:43  

#10  Yeah, assuming you recover from the virus.

Their definition of "effective" is not the same as mine.
Posted by: KBK   2021-01-28 18:32  

#9   Sounds like you'd be better off getting sick and getting over it.

The same could be said about the flu, ed. I get the flu vaccine every year so that if I do get it, I won’t get as miserably sick. Society supports this because letting another 1918 happen is a really bad idea — and even in years when the vaccine(s) offered aren’t a great match for the virus that ends up breaking out and circling the world, still the impacts are less severe.

And given that the CDC reports death statistics for flu-related pneumonia as well as infection stats every year, it seems reasonable to think that the processes that result in those rare severe cases are long overdue for researching with an eye to better treatment. Much that is being learnt about why and how Covid goes bad will be useful for other diseases as well, I hope.
Posted by: trailing wife   2021-01-28 14:14  

#8  /\ Or is there another reason Merck is pulling the plug ?
Posted by: Besoeker   2021-01-28 13:38  

#7  I kinda wonder abound the math here, when the general recovery rate is above 99%, but the vaccines are 95% effective.
Sounds like you'd be better off getting sick and getting over it.
Posted by: ed in texas   2021-01-28 13:10  

#6  Oh, the IDF does immunizations on it's own.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2021-01-28 12:52  

#5  Israel has clearly organized this effort well, g(r)omgoru. But you risk everything if the army — plus the portion of the population between 18 and 49 that are the reserves — can’t fight because too many are ill, even if they don’t need to be hospitalized.
Posted by: trailing wife   2021-01-28 12:50  

#4  #3 I've been to vaccination centers here in Israel four times now (twice escorting my mother, twice for myself) by appointment from our health service. Lots of people, of all ages, without appointment - nobody turned away.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2021-01-28 12:45  

#3  My attorney and his wife went to get vaccinated right after new years. She is 75, he 73. She got vaccinated as she is 75. He was refused because he is 73. A week later he got covid. He died January 20. She also got covid but because of the vaccine she only got a light case.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2021-01-28 10:07  

#2  What is true about their proposed vaccines is not necessarily true about others. And what is true for the healthy majority is not necessarily true for those at higher risk of a severe response and/or complications.

But they are right to move their attention to efforts that will have broad application and less market competition. What they’re describing should work for the flu as well— or at least give direction for how to research something that could generate tens of millions of prescriptions a year.
Posted by: trailing wife   2021-01-28 09:45  

#1  "Troof" = When truth meshes with proof.
Posted by: Flelet Omaitch6774   2021-01-28 08:20  

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