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<title>13 October, 2021</title>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Scientists, speak up! Source impacts trust in and intentions to comply with health advice cross-culturally</strong> -
<div>
We examined how different types of communication influence people’s responses to health advice. Specifically, we tested whether presenting Covid-19 prevention advice (i.e., washing hands) as either originating from the government or a scientific source would affect people’s trust and intentions to comply with the advice. We also tested the effects of uncertainty framing: We presented the advice as being either certainly or potentially effective in reducing virus spread. To achieve this, we conducted an experiment using largely representative samples (N = 4,561) from the UK, US, Canada, Malaysia, and Taiwan. Overall, across countries, participants found messages more trustworthy when the purported source was science as opposed to government. This effect was stronger for left-wing/liberal participants. Phrasing the advice as certain versus uncertain had little impact on trust and intentions. Together, our findings suggest that health advice should be communicated by scientists rather than governments.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/279yg/" target="_blank">Scientists, speak up! Source impacts trust in and intentions to comply with health advice cross-culturally</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Secondary structure of subgenomic RNA M of SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 belongs the Coronavirinae family. As other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 is enveloped and possesses positive-sense, single-stranded RNA genome of ~30 kb. Genome RNA is used as the template for replication and transcription. During these processes, positive-sense genomic RNA (gRNA) and subgenomic RNAs (sgRNAs) are created. Several studies showed importance of genomic RNA secondary structure in SARS-CoV-2 replication. However, the structure of sgRNAs have remained largely unsolved so far. In this study, we performed probing of sgRNA M of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. This is the first experimentally informed secondary structure model of sgRNA M, which presents features likely to be important in sgRNA M function. The knowledge about sgRNA M provides insights to better understand virus biology and could be used for designing new therapeutics.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.11.463917v1" target="_blank">Secondary structure of subgenomic RNA M of SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mutating novel interaction sites in NRP1 reduces SARS-CoV-2 spike protein internalization</strong> -
<div>
The global pandemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has become a severe global health problem because of its rapid spread. Both angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 and neuropilin 1 provide initial viral binding sites for SARS-CoV-2. Here, we show that three cysteine residues located in a1/a2 and b1 domains of neuropilin 1 are necessary for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein internalization in human cells. Mutating cysteines C82, C104, and C147 altered neuropilin 1 stability and binding ability as well as cellular internalization and lysosomal translocation of the spike protein. This resulted in up to 4 times reduction in spike protein load in cells for the original, alpha, and delta SARS-CoV-2 variants even in the presence of the endogenous angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors. Transcriptome analysis of cells transfected with mutated NRP1 revealed significantly reduced expression of genes involved in viral infection and replication, including eight members of the ribosomal protein L, ten members of ribosomal protein S, and five members of the proteasome {beta} subunit family proteins. We also observed higher expression of genes involved in the suppression of inflammation and endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation. These observations suggest that these cysteines offer viable targets for therapies against COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.11.463689v1" target="_blank">Mutating novel interaction sites in NRP1 reduces SARS-CoV-2 spike protein internalization</a>
</div></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Covid-19 genomic analysis reveals clusters of emerging sublineages within the delta variant</strong> -
<div>
The emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants may potentially have enhanced transmissibility and virulence of the virus, and impacts on performance of diagnostic tools and efficacy of vaccines. Genomic surveillance provides an opportunity to detect and characterize new mutations early enough for effective deployment of control strategies. Here, genomic data from Germany and United Kingdom were examined for genetic diversity by assessing gene mutations and inferring phylogeny. Delta variant sublineages were grouped into seven distinct clusters of spike mutations located in N-terminal domain of S1 region (T95I, D138H, <em>D142G, Y145H and A222V) and S2 region (T719I and </em>N950D). The most predominant cluster was T95I mutation, with the highest frequencies (71.1% - 83.9%) in Wales, England and Scotland, and the least frequencies (8.9%</div></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">12.1%) in Germany. Two mutations, <em>D142G and </em>N950D here described as *reverse mutations and T719I mutation, were largely unique to Germany. In a month, frequencies of D142G had increased from 55.6% to 67.8 % in Germany. Additionally, a cluster of D142G+T719I/T mutation went up from 27.7% to 34.1%, while a T95I+ D142G+N950D/N cluster rose from 19.2% to 26.2%. Although, two distinct clusters of T95I+D138H (2.6% - 3.8%) and T95I+Y145H+A222V (2.5%</li>
<li>8.5%) mutations were present in all the countries, they were most predominant in Wales and Scotland respectively. Results suggest divergent evolutionary trajectories between the clusters of D142G mutation and those of T95I mutation. These findings provide insights into underlying dynamics of evolution of the delta variant. Future studies may evaluate the epidemiological and biological implications of these sublineages.
<div class="article-link article-html- link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.08.463334v1" target="_blank">Covid-19 genomic analysis reveals clusters of emerging sublineages within the delta variant</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Impact of Antibody Cocktail Therapy Combined with Casirivimab and Imdevimab on Clinical Outcome for Covid-19 patients in A Real-Life Setting: A Single Institute Analysis</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
ABSTRACT Background. Recent data from clinical trial suggest that antibody cocktail therapy, a combination of the monoclonal antibodies casirivimab and imdevimab, has been shown to rapidly reduce the viral load and markedly decrease the risk of hospitalization or death among high-risk patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). However, it remains unclear how effective in a real-life clinical setting the therapy is. Methods. We retrospectively analyzed mild to moderate Covid-19 patients with one or more high-risk factors for severe disease who consecutively underwent the antibody cocktail therapy of the disease in our institute in June 2021 through early September 2021, compared to those with high-risk factors who were isolated in non-medical facilities consecutively during the same period, thereby being not given the antibody cocktail therapy there. The key outcome was the percentage of patients with Covid-19-related deterioration which needed additional medical interventions, such as oxygen support or other antiviral therapies. Results. Data from 55 patients with initially receiving antibody cocktail therapy and 53 patients with isolation into non-medical facilities are analyzed. 22 (41.5 %) of 53 patients with isolation facilities were finally hospitalized to receive medical interventions. On the other hand, 13 (23.6 %) of 55 patients with antibody cocktail therapy in our hospital subsequently underwent further medical interventions because of the progression. In multivariate analysis with variables of age, BMI, and high-risk factors, the antibody cocktail therapy significantly reduced 70 % in the need for further medical interventions compared to the initial isolation in the non-medical facilities (odds ratio=0.30, 95%CI [0.10-0.87], p=0.027). Furthermore, patients with 96% or above of SPO2 were significantly more favorable for the therapy than those with 95% or below of SPO2. Conclusion. The treatment of antibody cocktail was closely linked to reduction in the need for further medical interventions. The result indicates that the antibody cocktail therapy is associated with reducing the strain on hospitals, which is related to the improvement of medical management for public health care in Covid-19 pandemic era.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.10.21264589v1" target="_blank">Impact of Antibody Cocktail Therapy Combined with Casirivimab and Imdevimab on Clinical Outcome for Covid-19 patients in A Real-Life Setting: A Single Institute Analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Characterizing menstrual bleeding changes occurring after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Many people began sharing that they experienced unexpected menstrual bleeding after SARS-CoV-2 inoculation. This emerging phenomenon was undeniable yet understudied. We investigated menstrual bleeding patterns among currently and formerly menstruating people, with a research design based off our expectations that these bleeding changes related to changes in clotting or inflammation, affecting normal menstrual repair. In this sample, 42% of people with regular menstrual cycles bled more heavily than usual, while 44% reported no change, after being vaccinated. Among people who typically do not menstruate, 71% of people on long-acting reversible contraceptives, 39% of people on gender-affirming hormones, and 66% of post-menopausal people reported breakthrough bleeding. We found increased/breakthrough bleeding was significantly associated with age, other vaccine side effects (fever, fatigue), history of pregnancy or birth, and ethnicity. Changes to menstrual bleeding are not uncommon nor dangerous, yet attention to these experiences is necessary to build trust in medicine.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.11.21264863v1" target="_blank">Characterizing menstrual bleeding changes occurring after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Trans Sodium Crocetinate (TSC) to Improve Oxygenation in COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Trans Sodium Crocetinate (TSC) is a bipolar synthetic carotenoid under development as a drug to enhance oxygenation to hypoxic tissue in addition to standard of care. TSC acts via a novel mechanism of action, improving the diffusivity of oxygen in blood plasma. Thus, it is based on physical-chemical principles, unlike most drugs which are based on biochemistry-based mechanisms. We explored the use of escalating doses and multiple daily dosing of TSC as a potential therapeutic for patients suffering from hypoxemia due to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: Individuals ≥18 years who were hospitalized with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and hypoxemia, defined as SpO2 &lt; 94% on room air or requiring supplemental oxygen, WHO ordinal scale 3 through 7 (exclusive of Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation [ECMO]) were enrolled in cohorts of six subjects, each of whom received the same dose (0.25, 0.5, 1.0, or 1.5 mg/kg) of TSC via intravenous bolus every 6 hours in addition to standard of care (SOC). This report describes the safety and efficacy results from the lead-in phase of the study and the population pharmacokinetics (PK) analyses. Safety was assessed as the number of serious adverse events and dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) observed with each dose. Several efficacy parameters were examined in the lead-in phase and descriptive statistics of efficacy parameters are provided. No formal statistical analyses were performed. The population PK analyses were based on previous analyses and examination of the concentration profiles, and two-compartment linear pharmacokinetic models were evaluated and validated. Covariates, including body size, age, sex, organ function, and dose level, were evaluated for inclusion into the model. Results: TSC was well tolerated. There were no treatment emergent adverse events (TEAEs) reported. There were 2 serious adverse events (SAEs) reported during the study, neither were considered treatment-related. A total of 24 (96%) subjects survived. One subject (4.0%) died during the study as a result of an SAE (respiratory failure), and that event was determined to be due to COVID-19 complications and not related to study drug. There was an observed reduction in the time to improvement in WHO Ordinal Scale with increasing dose. The median time to 1-point reduction in subjects receiving 0.25 mg/kg was 11.5 days versus 7.5 days in the 1.5 mg/kg treatment cohort. The overall range across all doses was 1 day to 28 days. A total of 36.0% of subjects had a 1-point improvement in WHO Ordinal Scale to Day 7. The 1.5 mg/kg dose resulted in observed superior outcomes for multiple secondary clinical outcomes: time to 1-point WHO Ordinal Score improvement through Day 29/discharge, 1-point improvement by Day 7, days to return to room air, and hospital length of stay. The PK results showed that the two-compartment model fit the data well. Clearance decreased with increasing dose level and there was no evidence that clearance was affected by covariates other than dose level. Conclusions: These findings suggest that TSC administration every 6 hours at doses up to 1.5 mg/kg for up to 15 days is safe and well tolerated with predictable pharmacokinetics and demonstrated an observed clinical benefit in the treatment of COVID-19-related hypoxemia.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.08.21264719v1" target="_blank">Trans Sodium Crocetinate (TSC) to Improve Oxygenation in COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Covid-19 Epidemic Prediction in France: the Multimodal Case.</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
In two previous papers we have proposed models to estimate the Covid-19 epidemic when the number of daily positive cases has a bell shaped form that we call a mode. We have observed that each Covid variant produces this type of epidemic shape at a different moment, resulting in a multimodal epidemic shape. We will show in this document that each mode can still be estimated with models described in the two previous papers provides we replace the cumulated number of positive cases y by the cumulated number of positive cases reduced by a parameter P to be estimated. Therefore denoting z the logarithm of y − P , z follows approximately the differential equation z ̇ = b − az^r where a,b,r have also to be estimated from the observed data. We will show the obtained predictions on the four French modes April, November 2020, May and September 2021. The comparison between the prediction obtained before the containment decisions made by the French government and the observed data afterwards suggests the inefficiency of the epidemic lockdowns.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.09.21264794v1" target="_blank">Covid-19 Epidemic Prediction in France: the Multimodal Case.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Highly resolved spatial transcriptomics for detection of rare events in cells</strong> -
<div>
Single-cell spatial transcriptomics technologies leveraged the potential to transcriptionally landscape sophisticated reactions in cells. Current methods to delineate such complex interplay lack the flexibility in rapid target adaptation and are particularly restricted in detecting rare transcripts. We developed a multiplex single-cell RNA In-situ hybridization technique called ‘Molecular Cartography’ (MC) that can be easily tailored to specific applications and, by providing unprecedented sensitivity, specificity and resolution, is particularly suitable in tracing rare events at a subcellular level. Using a SARS-CoV-2 infection model, MC allows the discernment of single events in host-pathogen interactions, dissects primary from secondary responses, and illustrates differences in antiviral signaling pathways affected by SARS-CoV-2, simultaneously in various cell types.
</div>
<div class="article- link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.11.463936v1" target="_blank">Highly resolved spatial transcriptomics for detection of rare events in cells</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 variants exhibit increased kinetic stability of open spike conformations as an evolutionary strategy</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern harbor mutations in the Spike (S) glycoprotein that confer more efficient transmission and dampen the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and antibody therapies. S mediates virus entry and is the primary target for antibody responses. Structural studies of soluble S variants have revealed an increased propensity towards conformations accessible to receptor human Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (hACE2). However, real-time observations of conformational dynamics that govern the structural equilibriums of the S variants have been lacking. Here, we report single-molecule Forster Energy Transfer (smFRET) studies of S variants containing critical mutations, including D614G and E484K, in the context of virus particles. Investigated variants predominantly occupied more open hACE2-accessible conformations, agreeing with previous structures of soluble trimers. Additionally, these S variants exhibited decelerated transitions in hACE2-accessible/bound states. Our finding of increased S kinetic stability in the open conformation provides a new perspective on SARS-CoV-2 adaptation to the human population.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.11.463956v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 variants exhibit increased kinetic stability of open spike conformations as an evolutionary strategy</a>
</div></li>
<li>**ToxPi*GIS Toolkit: Creating, viewing, and sharing integrative visualizations for geospatial data using ArcGIS** -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Presenting a comprehensive picture of geographic data comprising multiple factors is an inherently integrative undertaking. Visualizing such data in an interactive form is essential for public sharing and geographic information systems (GIS) analysis. The Toxicological Prioritization Index (ToxPi) framework has been used as an integrative model layered atop geospatial data, and its deployment within the dynamic ArcGIS universe would open up powerful new avenues for sophisticated, interactive GIS analysis. Objective: We propose an actively developed suite of software, the ToxPi<em>GIS Toolkit, for creating, viewing, sharing, and analyzing interactive ToxPi figures in ArcGIS. Methods: The ToxPi</em>GIS Toolkit is a collection of methods for creating interactive feature layers that contain ToxPi diagrams. It currently includes an ArcGIS Toolbox (ToxPiToolbox.tbx) for drawing geographically located ToxPi diagrams onto a feature layer, a collection of modular Python scripts that create predesigned layer files containing ToxPi feature layers from the command line, and a collection of Python routines for useful data manipulation and preprocessing. We present workflows documenting ToxPi feature layer creation, sharing, and embedding for both novice and advanced users looking for additional customizability. Results: Map visualizations created with the ToxPi<em>GIS Toolkit can be made freely available on public URLs, allowing users without ArcGIS Pro access or expertise to view and interact with them. Novice users with ArcGIS Pro access can create de novo custom maps, and advanced users can exploit additional customization options. The ArcGIS Toolbox provides a simple means for generating ToxPi feature layers. We illustrate its usage with current COVID-19 data to compare drivers of pandemic vulnerability in counties across the United States. Significance: Development of new features, which will advance the interests of the scientific community in many fields, is ongoing for the ToxPi</em>GIS Toolkit, which can be accessed from www.toxpi.org.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.08.21264756v2" target="_blank">ToxPi*GIS Toolkit: Creating, viewing, and sharing integrative visualizations for geospatial data using ArcGIS</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Resource Allocation for Different Types of Vaccines against COVID-19: Tradeoffs and Synergies between Efficacy and Reach</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objective: During the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple vaccine candidates were developed in record time. The primary decision for a vaccine-ordering decision-maker then becomes how to allocate limited resources between different types of vaccines. One may expect that available resources should be favored towards a vaccine with high efficacy if it can be distributed as widely as any other vaccine. However, if a high efficacy vaccine consumes more resources than a vaccine with lower efficacy due to distributional challenges, the decision is no longer trivial as a widespread vaccination is necessary to reach herd immunity. Methods: We adapt a Susceptible-Infected-Recovered-Deceased (SIR-D) model with vaccination and simulate the level of infection attack rate (IAR) under different resource consumption ratios between two vaccine types with different resource allocation decisions. Results: We find that when there are limited resources, allocating resources entirely to a vaccine with high efficacy that becomes available earlier than a vaccine with lower efficacy that becomes available later does not always lead to a lower IAR, particularly if the former can immunize less than a range of 5.9% to 6.4% of the population (with the selected study parameters) before the latter becomes available. Sensitivity analyses show that this result stays robust under different efficacy levels for the higher efficacy vaccine. Conclusions: Our results show that the reach of a vaccine to be distributed widely under limited resources is a key factor to achieve low IAR levels, even though the vaccine may be of higher efficacy and may become available earlier than others. Manufacturing a novel vaccine lacking a fully developed suitable infrastructure for its effective distribution and storage may impact the potential benefits of the immunization program. Understanding the tradeoffs between efficacy and reach is critical for resource allocation decisions between different vaccine types to maximize the improvement in health outcomes.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.28.21250713v2" target="_blank">Resource Allocation for Different Types of Vaccines against COVID-19: Tradeoffs and Synergies between Efficacy and Reach</a>
</div></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 infects and replicates in photoreceptor and retinal ganglion cells of human retinal organoids</strong> -
<div>
Several studies have pointed to retinal involvement in COVID 19 disease, yet many questions remain regarding the ability of SARS CoV 2 to infect and replicate in retinal cells and its effects on the retina. Here we have used human stem cell derived retinal organoids to study retinal infection by the SARS CoV 2 virus. Indeed, SARS CoV 2 can infect and replicate in retinal organoids, as it is shown to infect different retinal lineages, such as retinal ganglion cells and photoreceptors. SARS CoV 2 infection of retinal organoids also induces the expression of several inflammatory genes, such as interleukin 33, a gene associated with acute COVID 19 disease and retinal degeneration. Finally, we show that the use of antibodies to block the ACE2 receptor significantly reduces SARS CoV 2 infection of retinal organoids, indicating that SARS CoV 2 infects retinal cells in an ACE2 dependent manner. These results suggest a retinal involvement in COVID 19 and emphasize the need to monitor retinal pathologies as potential sequelae of long COVID.
</div></li>
</ul>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.09.463766v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 infects and replicates in photoreceptor and retinal ganglion cells of human retinal organoids</a>
</div>
<ul>
<li><strong>Relative Ratios of Human Seasonal Coronavirus Antibodies Predict the Efficiency of Cross-Neutralization of SARS- CoV-2 Spike Binding to ACE2</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Antibodies raised against highly prevalent human seasonal coronaviruses (sCoVs), which are responsible for the common cold, are known to cross-react with SARS-CoV-2 antigens. This cross-reactivity prompts questions about their protective role against SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 disease severity. However, the relationship between sCoV exposure and SARS-CoV-2 correlates of protection have not been clearly identified. Here we performed a cross-sectional analysis of cross-reactivity and cross-neutralization to three SARS-CoV-2 antigens using pre-pandemic serum from four different groups: pediatrics and adolescents (&lt;21 yrs of age), persons 21 to 70 yrs of age, persons older than 70 yrs of age, and persons living with HCV or HIV. We find that antibody cross-reactivity to SARS-CoV-2 antigens varied between 1.6% and 15.3% depending on the cohort and the isotype-antigen pair analyzed. We also demonstrate a broad range of neutralizing activity (0-45%) in pre-pandemic serum that interferes with SARS-CoV-2 spike attachment to ACE2. While the abundance of sCoV antibodies did not directly correlate with neutralization efficiency, by using machine learning methodologies, we show that neutralizing activity is rather dependent on the latent variables related to the pattern ratios of sCoVs antibodies presented by each person. These were independent of age or sex, and could be accurately predicted by comparing the relative ratios of IgGs in sera directed to NL63, 229E, HKU-1, and OC43 spike proteins. More specifically, we identified antibodies to NL63 and OC43 as being the two most important predictors of latent variables responsible for protection, and 229E as being the least weighted. Our data support that exposure to sCoVs triggers various cellular and immune responses that influence the efficiency of SARS-CoV-2 spike binding to ACE2, and may impact COVID-19 disease severity through various other latent variables.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html- link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.16.21260079v3" target="_blank">Relative Ratios of Human Seasonal Coronavirus Antibodies Predict the Efficiency of Cross-Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Binding to ACE2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 RNA and antibody dynamics in a Dutch household study with dense sampling frame</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
This study investigated the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infection and diagnostics in household members of different ages and with different symptom severity after SARS-CoV-2 exposure during the early phase of the pandemic. Households with a SARS-CoV-2 confirmed positive case and at least one child in the Netherlands were followed for 6 weeks. Naso (NP)- and oropharyngeal (OP) swabs, oral fluid and feces specimens were analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 RNA and serum for SARS- CoV-2-specific antibodies. The dynamics of the presence of viral RNA and the serological response was modeled to determine the sampling time-frame and sample type with the highest sensitivity to confirm or reject a SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between adults and children within a household was correlated with symptom severity of index cases. In children higher viral loads compared to adults were detected at symptom onset. Early in infection, higher viral loads were detected in NP and OP specimens, while RNA in especially feces were longer detectable. SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies have a 90% probability of detection from 7 days (total Ig) and 18 days (IgG) since symptom onset. In conclusion this study has shown that on average, children carry higher loads of virus as compared to adults early after infection. For highest probability of detection in SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics early in infection, RT-PCR on NP and OP specimens are more sensitive than on oral fluid and feces. For SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics late after infection, RT-PCR on feces specimens and serology are more valuable.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.06.21263384v2" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 RNA and antibody dynamics in a Dutch household study with dense sampling frame</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Randomized Study to Evaluate Intranasal Dose of STI-2099 (COVI-DROPS™) in Outpatient Adults With Mild COVID-19 Infection</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: COVI-DROPS;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Prophylaxis of COVID-19 Disease With Ivermectin in COVID-19 Contact Persons [German: Prophylaxe Der COVID-19-Erkrankung Mit Ivermectin Bei COVID-19 Kontaktpersonen]</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
Infectopharm Arzneimittel GmbH;   GKM Gesellschaft für Therapieforschung mbH<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Evaluating Safety, Tolerability, and Potential Efficacy of Intranasal AD17002 in Adults With Mild COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: AD17002;   Biological: Placebo (Formulation buffer)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Advagene Biopharma Co. Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lymphatic Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine to Enhance Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccination Efficacy</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Lymphatic OMM;   Other: Light Touch<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Rowan University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“Efesovir” (FS-1) for COVID-19, Phase 2</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Efesovir<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Scientific Center for Anti-infectious Drugs, Kazakhstan<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Infection in COVID-19 Vaccinated Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: COVID-19 vaccinated people<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hospices Civils de Lyon<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety and Immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Protein Subunit Recombinant Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SARS-CoV-2 Protein Subunit Recombinant Vaccine;   Biological: SARS-CoV-2 Inactivated Vaccine<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   PT Bio Farma;   Fakultas Kedokteran Universitas Indonesia;   National Institute of Health Research and Development, Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Ph 2 Trial With an Oral Tableted COVID-19 Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: VXA-CoV2-1.1-S;   Other: Placebo Tablets<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Vaxart<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pulmonary Function in Patients Recovering From COVID19 Infection : a Pilot Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: diaphragm ultrasonography<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University Hospital, Limoges<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>RCT on the Efficacy of Dexamethasone Versus Methyl Prednisolone in Covid-19 Infected Patients With High Oxygen Flow</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pandemic<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Dexamethasone;   Drug: Methylprednisolone<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cairo University<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Safety and Tolerability Study of BDB-001 in Mild, Moderate COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: BDB-001 injection<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
Staidson (Beijing) Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd;   Beijing Defengrui Biotechnology Co. Ltd<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Acetylsalicylic Acid in COVID-19 (ASA-SARS)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV2 Infection;   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Low-dose acetylsalicylic acid;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Barcelona Institute for Global Health;   Hospital Universitario de Torrejón,Madrid;   Hospital Universitario Infanta Leonor;   Fundació Institut de Recerca de l’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau;   Hospital del Mar;   Hopsital Central de Maputo, Mozambique<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Telerehabilitation in COVID-19 Survivors</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Telerehabilitation<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: telerehabilitation;   Other: home exercise program;   Other: informed program<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Clinical Trial on Sequential Immunization of Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO Cells,NVSI-06-08) and Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cells) in Population Aged 18 Years and Above</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia;   Coronavirus Infections<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO cell，NVSI-06-08);   Biological: COVID-19 vaccine (Vero cells);   Biological: 3 doses Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO cell，NVSI-06-08)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   National Vaccine and Serum Institute, China;   China National Biotec Group Company Limited;   Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Buccal Screening Evaluation Using an RT-PCR Assay and a Rapid ELISA Test Among Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Patients</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV-2;   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: ELISA POCT vs RT-PCR<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Centre Scientifique de Monaco;   Department of Health Affairs, Monaco<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Natural Polyphenols Inhibit the Dimerization of the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease: The Case of Fortunellin and Its Structural Analogs</strong> - 3CL-Pro is the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (MPro). It acts as a homodimer to cleave the large polyprotein 1ab transcript into proteins that are necessary for viral growth and replication. 3CL-Pro has been one of the most studied SARS-CoV-2 proteins and a main target of therapeutics. A number of drug candidates have been reported, including natural products. Here, we employ elaborate computational methods to explore the dimerization of the 3CL-Pro protein, and we formulate a computational context to…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Chloropyridinyl Esters of Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Agents and Related Derivatives as Potent SARS-CoV-2 3CL Protease Inhibitors</strong> - We report the design and synthesis of a series of new 5-chloropyridinyl esters of salicylic acid, ibuprofen, indomethacin, and related aromatic carboxylic acids for evaluation against SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease enzyme. These ester derivatives were synthesized using EDC in the presence of DMAP to provide various esters in good to excellent yields. Compounds are stable and purified by silica gel chromatography and characterized using ¹H-NMR, ^(13)C-NMR, and mass spectral analysis. These synthetic…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Teens’ Social Media Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Time Series Examination of Posting and Emotion on Reddit</strong> - Research has rarely examined how the COVID-19 pandemic may affect teens’ social media engagement and psychological wellbeing, and even less research has compared the difference between teens with and without mental health concerns. We collected and analyzed weekly data from January to December 2020 from teens in four Reddit communities (subreddits), including teens in r/Teenagers and teens who participated in three mental health subreddits (r/Depression, r/Anxiety, and r/SuicideWatch). The…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Molecular Mechanism of the Anti-Inflammatory Action of Heparin</strong> - Our objective is to reveal the molecular mechanism of the anti-inflammatory action of low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) based on its influence on the activity of two key cytokines, IFNγ and IL-6. The mechanism of heparin binding to IFNγ and IL-6 and the resulting inhibition of their activity were studied by means of extensive molecular-dynamics simulations. The effect of LMWH on IFNγ signalling inside stimulated WISH cells was investigated by measuring its antiproliferative activity and the…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tomatidine and Patchouli Alcohol as Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Enzymes (3CLpro, PLpro and NSP15) by Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamics Simulations</strong> - Considering the current dramatic and fatal situation due to the high spreading of SARS-CoV-2 infection, there is an urgent unmet medical need to identify novel and effective approaches for prevention and treatment of Coronavirus disease (COVID 19) by re-evaluating and repurposing of known drugs. For this, tomatidine and patchouli alcohol have been selected as potential drugs for combating the virus. The hit compounds were subsequently docked into the active site and molecular docking analyses…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lectin from Triticum vulgaris (WGA) Inhibits Infection with SARS-CoV-2 and Its Variants of Concern Alpha and Beta</strong> - Even in the face of global vaccination campaigns, there is still an urgent need for effective antivirals against SARS- CoV-2 and its rapidly spreading variants. Several natural compounds show potential as antiviral substances and have the advantages of broad availabilities and large therapeutic windows. Here, we report that lectin from Triticum vulgaris (Wheat Germ Agglutinin) displays antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 and its major Variants of Concern (VoC), Alpha and Beta. In Vero B4 cells,…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Crystal-Structures-Guided Design of Fragment-Based Drugs for Inhibiting the Main Protease of SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists across the globe are racing to find a cure for the highly contagious infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Despite many promising ongoing progress, there are currently no FDA approved drug to treat infected patients. Recently, the crowdsourcing of drug discovery for inhibiting the main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 have yielded a plenty of drug fragments resolved inside the active site of Mpro via the crystallography method….</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Indirect-Acting Pan-Antivirals vs. Respiratory Viruses: A Fresh Perspective on Computational Multi-Target Drug Discovery</strong> - Respiratory viruses continue to afflict mankind. Among them, pathogens such as coronaviruses [including the current pandemic agent known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)] and the one causing influenza A (IAV) are highly contagious and deadly. These can evade the immune system defenses while causing a hyperinflammatory response that can damage different tissues/organs. Simultaneously targeting immunomodulatory proteins is a plausible antiviral strategy since it…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Mechanistic Review on Plant-derived Natural Inhibitors of Human Coronaviruses with Emphasis on SARS-COV-1 and SARS-COV-2</strong> - Coronaviruses have been receiving continuous attention worldwide as they have caused a serious threat to global public health. This group of viruses is named so as they exhibit characteristic crown-like spikes on their protein coat. SARS- CoV-2, a type of coronavirus that emerged in 2019, causes severe infection in the lower respiratory tract of humans and is often fatal in immunocompromised individuals. No medications have been approved so far for the direct treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection,…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A novel class of TMPRSS2 inhibitors potently block SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV viral entry and protect human epithelial lung cells</strong> - The host cell serine protease TMPRSS2 is an attractive therapeutic target for COVID-19 drug discovery. This protease activates the Spike protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and of other coronaviruses and is essential for viral spread in the lung. Utilizing rational structure-based drug design (SBDD) coupled to substrate specificity screening of TMPRSS2, we have discovered covalent small-molecule ketobenzothiazole (kbt) TMPRSS2 inhibitors which are structurally…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Epigenetic targeting of the ACE2 and NRP1 viral receptors limits SARS-CoV-2 infectivity</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed that VPA blocks three essential processes determining the severity of COVID-19. It downregulates the expression of ACE2 and NRP1, reducing the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2; it decreases viral yields, probably because it affects virus budding or virions stability; and it dampens the triggered inflammatory response. Thus, administering VPA could be considered a safe treatment for COVID-19 patients until vaccines have been rolled out across the world.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Vimentin-Targeting Oral Compound with Host-Directed Antiviral and Anti-Inflammatory Actions Addresses Multiple Features of COVID-19 and Related Diseases</strong> - Damage in COVID-19 results from both the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its triggered overactive host immune responses. Therapeutic agents that focus solely on reducing viral load or hyperinflammation fail to provide satisfying outcomes in all cases. Although viral and cellular factors have been extensively profiled to identify potential anti-COVID-19 targets, new drugs with significant efficacy remain to be developed. Here, we report the potent preclinical efficacy of ALD-R491, a vimentin-targeting small…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein forms condensates with viral genomic RNA</strong> - The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a pandemic that seriously threatens global health. SARS-CoV-2 propagates by packaging its RNA genome into membrane enclosures in host cells. The packaging of the viral genome into the nascent virion is mediated by the nucleocapsid (N) protein, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we show that the N protein forms biomolecular condensates with viral genomic RNA both…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>MOXIDECTIN AND IVERMECTIN INHIBIT SARS-COV-2 REPLICATION IN VERO E6 CELLS BUT NOT IN HUMAN PRIMARY AIRWAY EPITHELIUM CELLS</strong> - Antiviral therapies are urgently needed to treat and limit the development of severe COVID-19 disease. Ivermectin, a broad-spectrum anti-parasitic agent, has been shown to have anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity in Vero cells at a concentration of 5 μM. These limited in vitro results triggered the investigation of ivermectin as a treatment option to alleviate COVID-19 disease. In April 2021, the World Health Organization stated, however, the following: "the current evidence on the use of ivermectin to…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mechanisms of instantaneous inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 by silicon nitride bioceramic</strong> - The hydrolytic processes occurring at the surface of silicon nitride (Si(3)N(4)) bioceramic have been indicated as a powerful pathway to instantaneous inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, the virus inactivation mechanisms promoted by Si(3)N(4) remain yet to be elucidated. In this study, we provide evidence of the instantaneous damage incurred on the SARS-CoV-2 virus upon contact with Si(3)N(4). We also emphasize the safety characteristics of Si(3)N(4) for mammalian cells. Contact between…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>스몰 RNA 검출 방법</strong> - 본 발명은 스몰(small) RNA의 분석 및 검출 방법에 관한 것이다. 특히, 본 발명은 짧은 염기서열의 RNA까지 분석이 가능하면서도 높은 민감도 및 정확도로 정량적 검출까지 가능하여 감염증, 암 등 여러 질환의 진단 용도로도 널리 활용될 수 있다. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=KR336674313">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>健康智能检测方法、装置、电子设备及可读存储介质</strong> - 本申请公开了一种健康智能检测方法、装置、电子设备及可读存储介质，其方法包括获取音频信号，并对所述音频信号进行预处理，得到检测信号；将所述检测信号转化为矩阵数字矩阵；将得到的矩阵数字矩阵作为检测样本，输入健康智能检测模型中，以获取检测结果；其中，所述健康智能检测模型是采用迁移学习和卷积神经网络对训练样本进行训练得到的。本申请由于卷积神经网络各组件或部分组件基于迁移学习进行了重新训练，显著提升了对人们健康检测的准确度；且本申请中的健康智能检测模型为分类模型，计算量小，可将其部署于人们的移动终端中，使用方便，极大程度上提升了用户的使用感受。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN337672106">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUE TO ANALYSE THE CONDITION OF COVID-19 PATIENTS BASED ON THEIR SATURATION LEVELS</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU335054861">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>单克隆抗体32C7及其制备方法和用途</strong> - 本发明公开了单克隆抗体32C7及其制备方法和用途。本发明通过制备针对于新冠病毒RBD结构域的中和抗体32C7，在体外通过表面等离子共振检测抗体32C7可以有效地与新冠病毒的S蛋白的RBD结构域结合，通过转基因小鼠感染模型验证了抗体32C7的中和能力，测定了中和抗体32C7对于新冠感染后的肺部病毒滴度和相关炎症因子的抑制效果，结果显示该中和抗体能够明显的抑制病毒在体内的复制并降低炎症因子的产生和肺部炎症浸润。单克隆中和抗体32C7抑制新冠病毒的进入宿主细胞，达到新冠病毒中和抗体的治疗作用，可有效用于治疗或者预防新冠病毒感染引起的呼吸系统损伤。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN336730149">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>单克隆抗体35B5及其制备方法和用途</strong> - 本发明公开了单克隆抗体35B5及其制备方法和用途。本发明通过制备针对于新冠病毒RBD结构域的中和抗体35B5，在体外通过表面等离子共振检测抗体35B5可以有效地与新冠病毒的S蛋白的RBD结构域结合，通过转基因小鼠感染模型验证了抗体35B5的中和能力，测定了中和抗体35B5对于新冠感染后的肺部病毒滴度和相关炎症因子的抑制效果，结果显示该中和抗体能够明显的抑制病毒在体内的复制并降低炎症因子的产生和肺部炎症浸润。单克隆中和抗体35B5抑制新冠病毒的进入宿主细胞，达到新冠病毒中和抗体的治疗作用，可有效用于治疗或者预防新冠病毒感染引起的呼吸系统损伤。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN336730150">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A HERB BASED COMPOSITION ANTI VIRAL MEDICINE FOR TREATMENT OF SARS COV 2 AND A METHOD FOR TREATING A PERSON INFECTED BY THE SARS COV 2 VIRUS</strong> - A Herbal composition, viz., PONNU MARUNTHU essentially comprising of ALLUIUM CEPA extract. [concentrated to 30%] 75%, SAPINDUS MUKOROSSI - extract [Optimised] 10%, CITRUS X LIMON - extract in its natural form 05 TRACYSPERMUM AMMI (L) – extract 07%,ROSA HYBRIDA - extract 03%, PONNU MARUNTHU solution 50 ml, or as a capsulated PONNU MARUNTHU can be given to SARS cov2 positive Patients, three times a day that is ½ an hour before food; continued for 3 days to 5 days and further taking it for 2 days if need be there; It will completely cure a person. When the SARS cov2 test shows negative this medicine can be discontinued. This indigenous medicine and method for treating a person inflicted with SARS COV 2 viral infection is quite effective in achieving of much needed remedy for the patients and saving precious lives from the pangs of death and ensuring better health of people. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN334865051">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>治疗或预防新冠病毒的靶点</strong> - 本发明提供一种蛋白片段，是如下至少一种：A1)氨基酸酸序列如SEQ ID NO.1所示；A2）氨基酸序列如SEQ ID NO.1第12位‑34位所示；A3）将A1)的蛋白片段的第18、19、28和29位中的任意一个或几个氨基酸残基经过一个或几个氨基酸残基的取代、缺失、添加得到的与A1)所示的蛋白片段具有90％以上的同一性的蛋白片段；A4）氨基酸酸序列如SEQ ID NO.2所示；A5）氨基酸序列如SEQ ID NO.2第32‑41位所示；A6）将A4)的蛋白片段的第35和36位中的任意1个或2个氨基酸残基经过一个或几个氨基酸残基的取代、缺失、添加得到的与A4)所示的蛋白片段具有90％以上的同一性的蛋白片段。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN336197499">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>以痘苗病毒为载体的新冠疫苗</strong> - 本申请涉及一种基于经过基因工程改造的痘苗病毒为载体的新型冠状病毒南非突变株疫苗。所述疫苗以A46R缺陷的痘苗病毒为载体携带新冠病毒南非突变株S基因核酸序列，所述痘苗病毒载体还可以携带IL‑21，该疫苗在免疫小鼠后可以产生针对新冠病毒南非突变株的抗体。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN337671415">link</a></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>氧化钛负载银单原子的材料在病毒消杀中的应用</strong> - 本发明属于生物医药领域，尤其涉及一种负载银单原子的材料在病毒消杀中的应用，所述氧化钛负载银单原子材料具有以下的结构：银单原子以单分散的形式，稳定地锚定于氧化钛的表面和/或骨架中，键合方式为Ti‑O‑Ag；银单原子的嵌合使Ag单原子和氧化钛的电子结构带隙范围为2.9‑3.2</p></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">eV；氧化钛负载银单原子材料具有较银纳米颗粒更加优异的催化活性，具有过氧化物酶活性，利用羟基自由基可高效破坏核酸和蛋白质的原理来实现广谱消杀病毒，银单原子的嵌合使Ag单原子和氧化钛的电子结构带隙变小，对可见光的敏感性更强，可将光照射下的光催化诱导光动力杀伤病毒。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN337671299">link</a></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Anti-Sars-Cov-2 Neutralizing Antibodies</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU333857732">link</a></li>
</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Mysterious Case of the COVID-19 Lab-Leak Theory</strong> - Did the virus spring from nature or from human error? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-mysterious-case-of-the-covid-19-lab-leak-theory">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Return-to-Office Quandary</strong> - Ambiguous plans are good for executives but bad for other employees. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/office-space/the-return-to-office-quandary">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>When Will We Have the Last Oil Spill?</strong> - The latest incident comes as the fossil-fuel industry heads into a terminal decline. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/when-will-we-have-the-last-oil-spill">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Great Bridge Boycott</strong> - At a recent tournament, thirty teams refused to compete when faced with the prospect of playing against Fulvio Fantoni, a notorious Italian player who has been accused of cheating. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/the-great-bridge-boycott">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Singular Work of a California Photographer, Unearthed</strong> - The colors in many of Kali’s images seem to shimmer, as if pulsing with their own internal heartbeat. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-singular-work-of-a-california-photographer-unearthed">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Biden’s incoherent immigration policy</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ijkogNa_xEwptN-
eKkZ_UFuaGU4=/300x0:2967x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69988193/GettyImages_1342113507.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Haitian families cross the Rio Grande into Del Rio, Texas, on September 23. | John Moore/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
President Biden proposed humane immigration reforms but continued harsh, Trump- era enforcement policies at the border.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="718KJa">
There is a growing gulf between the progressive immigration values President Joe Biden professes and the enforcement policies he’s implementing at the border — and it’s led to confusion among immigration officials, uncertainty for migrants, and questions about whether the president has a coherent strategy on immigration at all.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5fKq04">
On the campaign trail, Biden promised a more humane approach to the southern border than former President Donald Trump, whom he <a href="https://joebiden.com/immigration/">described</a> as launching an “unrelenting assault on our values and our history as a nation of immigrants” and “bullying legitimate asylum seekers.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1iWVCa">
But during his first year in office, Biden has leaned on his predecessor’s efforts to cut off access to the asylum system on the border more than he admits.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yjh8ki">
The Biden administration has clung to pandemic-related border restrictions enacted by Trump, known as the Title 42 policy, under which the US has expelled hundreds of thousands of migrants without giving them access to their legal right to apply for asylum. And faced with a recent spike in Haitian migrants at the border, Biden forcibly returned thousands to Haiti despite an ongoing political and humanitarian crisis there.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="President Biden sitting behind a microphone at a
conference table." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/I6ayGsUVtRuZi-OfdaXqFX1aBSE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22910807/GettyImages_1332527381_copy.jpg"/> <cite>Win McNamee/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Biden has become<strong> </strong>a target of criticism from both the right and the left on immigration.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e2EWYP">
These enforcement actions create a stark contrast between how the president treats migrants who are trying to enter the US and those already living in the country for whom he has tried to provide a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-says-immigration-should-be-big-
democratic-budget-bill-2021-07-29/">path to citizenship</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tLdvui">
And that inconsistency has become a source of strife within the administration. The US special envoy for Haiti recently <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/23/1040055089/us-special-envoy-haiti-quits-deportations-refugees">resigned</a> over the government’s “deeply flawed” Haiti policy. So did a <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/04/top-state-
adviser-leaves-post-title-42-515029">senior State Department official</a> who called the Title 42 policy “illegal,” “inhumane,” and “not worthy of this administration.” Current Department of Homeland Security officials have also described a <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/biden-immigration-policy-internal-
frustration">general lack of direction</a> on immigration.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lTuNna">
Biden has also become<strong> </strong>a target of criticism from both the right and the left. Republican immigration hawks accuse him of presiding over an out- of-control border, while Democrats and immigration activists decry his decision to deny Haitians and other migrants a safe haven.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zhnuHo">
Biden has tried to please both sides by taking a generally strict approach to the border while trying to bring relief to undocumented immigrants in the US living under the threat of deportation. But in doing so, he has exacerbated inequities that already exist in the US immigration system.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VOSp51">
He has pursued policies designed to uplift immigrants who have put down roots in the US, many of whom have been able to attract public sympathy. But the migrants most Americans will never see are now the subject of his harshest enforcement initiatives. This approach has left Biden with a border policy not so different from the one he once decried.
</p>
<h3 id="iEbXn9">
Biden made initial progress in dismantling Trump’s immigration policies, but it didn’t last
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YWiTbO">
During his early days in office, Biden seemed on track to dismantle the Trump administration’s most restrictive immigration policies. He ended the travel ban on people from mostly Muslim-majority countries, halted<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/biden-border-wall-hidalgo-county/">most new border wall construction</a>, and reversed the “<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-
politics/2021/1/27/22252294/biden-zero-tolerance-family-separation-trump">zero-tolerance policy</a>” that enabled family separations and the “Remain in Mexico” program that kept asylum seekers waiting in Mexico for court hearings in the US. He also released an <a href="https://www.vox.com/22233711/biden-day-one-immigration-congress-path-
citizenship">expansive reform proposal</a> with a path to citizenship for the more than 10 million undocumented immigrants living in the US as its centerpiece.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eXQSIb">
Then, within weeks of his inauguration, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22346509/humanitarian-border-crisis-biden-unaccompanied-children">record numbers</a> of unaccompanied migrant children began arriving from Central America, and Biden’s border policies came under scrutiny from both the left and the right.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mChK3GrYKiscXYQOpxMx5I5RhL0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22910815/GettyImages_1235439325.jpg"/> <cite>Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Haitian families gather outside the offices of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Support in Mexico City on September 22.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yMNsey">
Suddenly on the defensive, the administration’s posture shifted. It <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22299135/biden-kids-cages-migrant-
children-carrizo-homestead">reopened temporary, jail-like facilities</a> — the same “cages” that drew condemnation in 2019 under Trump — to house migrant children. On a June trip to Guatemala, in what would become a common refrain for US officials, Vice President Kamala Harris told migrants, “<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-
politics/2021/4/1/22359917/biden-border-mixed-messaging-crisis">Don’t come</a>.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mWBWOT">
In the past, Mayorkas has argued that the administration has had no choice but to take such measures, saying that they were virtually starting from scratch in creating a system to humanely process migrants at the border.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="khwDYX">
“The entire system was gutted,” Mayorkas <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/03/01/press-
briefing-by-%5B%E2%80%A6%5Dsaki-and-secretary-of-homeland-security-alejandro-mayorkas/">said</a> during a briefing at the White House in March. “It takes time to build out of the depths of cruelty that the administration before us established.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="glDymS">
But despite condemnations of Trump’s legacy on the border, Biden has actively preserved one of his predecessor’s key policies to keep migrants out.
</p>
<h3 id="1PRSeY">
The Title 42 policy continues to be a stain on Biden’s immigration record
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xVrIHW">
Biden’s primary tool to manage the border has been a controversial policy that one ex-Trump official, referring to the architect of the former president’s restrictive immigration policy, called a “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-pandemics-public-health-new-york-
health-4ef0c6c5263815a26f8aa17f6ea490ae">Stephen Miller special</a>.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PPufah">
In March 2020, at the outset of the pandemic, Trump used a special legal authority called Title 42, a section of the Public Health Service Act<strong> </strong>that allows the US government to temporarily block noncitizens from entering the US in the interest of public health. Though Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientists initially opposed the policy, arguing that there was no legitimate public health rationale behind it, then-Vice President Mike Pence <a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-pandemics-public-health-new-york-
health-4ef0c6c5263815a26f8aa17f6ea490ae">ordered</a> them to implement it anyway.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KNzzWR">
Under both Trump and Biden, the policy has allowed US immigration officials at the southern border to rapidly expel migrants <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics/title-8-and-title-42-statistics">more than 1.1 million</a> times, without a hearing before an immigration judge. (The exact number of people expelled is unknown because many have been caught trying to cross the border multiple times.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XZJDKR">
Even when a federal judge recently <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-blocks-expulsions-migrant-families-under-
title-42-order-2021-09-16/">blocked the policy</a> from being used to expel families, the Biden administration chose to appeal the ruling, and has continued (with court permission) to enforce the policy while litigation continues.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o7Y1ED">
Biden has carved out some exemptions. Unaccompanied children and people subject to the “Remain in Mexico” policy under Trump are allowed to enter the US while their cases are adjudicated. The Mexican government has also refused to take back some Haitian and Central American families, who have been allowed to enter. But everyone else, including people facing real persecution and danger in their home countries or in Mexico, can be expelled.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-uyR_gMuw1G34Yn04V32A0BFvI8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22910820/GettyImages_1235429782.jpg"/> <cite>Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) speaks during a news conference on the treatment of Haitian immigrants at the US border outside of the US Capitol on September 22.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/JFh4Qku2XdMk__H9LiUiQ5l_AtU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22910821/GettyImages_1235401903.jpg"/> <cite>Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) speaks during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on September 21. The Department of Homeland Security is investigating a confrontation between border patrol agents on horseback and Haitian migrants seeking asylum in the US.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f97ecY">
The White House has maintained that there is a public health obligation to enforce Title 42, referring Vox to Mayorkas’s recent comments on <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/09/26/sotu-mayorkas-full-interview.cnn">CNN</a>, in which he described the policy as a means “to protect migrants themselves, local communities, our personnel, and the American public.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said that the administration <a href="https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1445109068855644173?s=20">doesn’t view Title 42 as an immigration policy</a>; it’s a CDC policy. The CDC announced on Monday that Title 42 “<a href="https://twitter.com/camiloreports/status/1445050316433629185?s=20">continues to be necessary”</a> given continued high levels of Covid-19 transmission.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1vDsXz">
However, many <a href="https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/node/76271">public health experts</a> say that migrants can be safely processed at the border and that the policy represents an attempt to “unethically and illegally exploit the Covid-19 pandemic to expel, block, and return to danger asylum seekers and individuals seeking protection.” Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top federal infectious disease expert, recently <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/10/03/fauci-says-immigrants-are-absolutely-not-driving-
covid-19-surge-lets-face-reality-here/?sh=6e81420173d1">said</a> that “expelling [migrants] … is not the solution to an outbreak.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QgPnBV">
Though Title 42 has proved a convenient means for Biden to manage the border, he has other options. For years now, experts have been contemplating <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-
politics/22442165/biden-border-asylum-crisis-children">broad fixes to the asylum system</a> to address migration surges, including building new processing centers and putting more power in the hands of asylum officers rather than border patrol agents.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MoKJcn">
Biden’s insistence on maintaining Title 42 has driven away one of his own top immigration officials. Harold Koh, a senior State Department lawyer, resigned earlier this month after writing a scathing, 3,000-word legal memo arguing Title 42 runs afoul of US asylum law and longstanding international treaties, particularly in the way it is currently being used to return Haitians to dire humanitarian conditions in their home country.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8E0V4a">
“[W]e all came into this Administration to give the American people a government as good as our national values,” <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000017c-4c4a-dddc-a77e-4ddbf3ae0000">the memo obtained by Politico reads</a>. “I ask you to do everything in your power to revise this policy, especially as it affects Haitians, into one that is worthy of this nation we love.”
</p>
<h3 id="6Rsagd">
The Biden administration has turned its back on its humanitarian obligations toward Haiti
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yQ0o21">
Haiti has been in a state of upheaval since at least July, when Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated and, amid the power vacuum, gang violence sharply escalated. When a 7.2-magnitude earthquake and tropical depression devastated Haiti in August, the country’s political crisis was compounded by a humanitarian one.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XYPoAs">
About <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/24/1040446618/biden-border-agents-horses-haiti-migrants-dangerous-wrong">30,000 Haitian migrants</a> arrived in Del Rio, Texas, last month, setting up a temporary encampment under the international bridge that connects the US and Mexico. There has also been a dramatic increase in Haitians attempting to cross the Caribbean by boat to reach the US. More than <a href="https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2021/10/05/number-of-
haitians-trying-to-reach-the-u-s--by-boat-surges">1,500 such migrants were intercepted</a> by the US Coast Guard over the last year, up from about 400 in the previous year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GiG8RL">
Many of the Haitians seeking refuge in the US lived in Latin America for years after fleeing earlier crises in Haiti, including an even bigger 2010 earthquake. But the Covid-19 recession, racial discrimination in Latin America, the realization that going home was no longer an option, and the perception that the US would offer them humanitarian protection all played a role in their decision to move north.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FlAUtd">
At first, the Biden administration did offer protection. Mayorkas decided to extend Temporary Protected Status — typically used to enable citizens of countries that have experienced violent conflict or natural disasters to live and work in the US — for Haitians who arrived in the US prior to <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/dhs-announces-registration-process-for-temporary-protected-status-for-
haiti">July 29</a>. This offer was designed to cover those who fled the country in the aftermath of the political crisis stemming from Moïse’s killing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A77qGU">
At the time, Mayorkas <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2021/05/22/secretary-mayorkas-designates-haiti-temporary-protected-
status-18-months">said</a> “serious security concerns, social unrest, an increase in human rights abuses, crippling poverty, and lack of basic resources, which are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic” had made it dangerous for Haitians to return home.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="38dJKw">
But the administration maintained a strict stance toward those arriving by boat. Mayorkas said in July that any migrants intercepted off US shores <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-homeland-
security-secretary-cuba-haiti-boats-no-refuge/">will be turned back</a> or, if they express fear of returning home, repatriated to a third country.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yuWvN8">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-
politics/2021/7/29/22589316/biden-haiti-migrant-boat-guantanamo">That policy isn’t new</a>. Republican and Democratic administrations have employed this approach, known as interdiction, to prevent Caribbean migrants from reaching US shores. They argue it protects migrants from the very real dangers of that journey. In reality, however, it resulted in many Haitians being returned to certain peril in their home country; under the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, migrants languished in what one federal judge called a “<a href="https://twitter.com/jherrerx/status/1415080366302322688?s=20">prison camp</a>” at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FfnB1y">
Biden has been <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/biden-admin-seeks-contractor-run-
migrant-detention-facility-gitmo-guards-n1279886">making contingency plans</a> to detain migrants at Guantanamo again, hiring guards who speak Creole (though Biden administration officials insist that Haitians arriving at the border will not be sent there). No such promises have been made about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities inside the US, where the total detained population has ballooned to <a href="https://www.ice.gov/detain/detention-
management">more than 21,000</a> on Biden’s watch — up from <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/640/">13,500</a> as of late February but still well below the historic high of <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/640/">nearly 60,000</a> under Trump.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YIavrh">
The Biden administration also worked quickly last month to empty out the camp in Del Rio. At one point, US Border Patrol agents on horseback <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-homeland-security-chief-heads-border-removal-migrant-
camp-accelerates-2021-09-20/">used whip-like cords on Haitians</a> to prevent them from returning to the camp after buying supplies on the Mexican side of the border. Following public outcry over the images, Biden halted the use of horses in the area, saying that it’s “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/24/biden-condemns-border-patrol-treatment-
of-haitian-migrants-in-del-rio.html">simply not who we are</a>.”
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/h0oIuEdGaWIkqR2ura3MmSAp3J8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22910834/GettyImages_1341812755.jpg"/> <cite>John Moore/Getty Images</cite></p>
<figcaption>
Over 14,000 Haitians seeking asylum gathered in a makeshift camp in Del Rio, Texas, this September.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/IP-e0GKLrHOj8d-IbOJ_I5H0NKI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22910836/GettyImages_1341736490.jpg"/> <cite>John Moore/Getty Images</cite></p>
<figcaption>
In the last month, the Biden administration has worked quickly to empty out the camp in Del Rio, Texas.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/XLz5LadR4ImnWC6uX4GsrrlZS40=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22910837/GettyImages_1235507454.jpg"/> <cite>Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
On September 25, a single National Guard Humvee was parked in the area where the encampment of about 14,000 Haitians was located only days before.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OWFUXo">
Most of the Haitians who were staying in the camp have since been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/haitians-border-
deportations/2021/10/01/bfa38852-222a-11ec-8fd4-57a5d9bf4b47_story.html">expelled</a>. The US has sent <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/border-haitians-deportation-
flights/2021/10/06/3e439952-26b5-11ec-a6ad-9ee7deda7f34_story.html">7,000</a> back to Haiti since September 19 through the Title 42 policy, despite continued turmoil on the ground. Others voluntarily returned to Mexico to avoid being sent back to Haiti or were allowed to enter the US, at least temporarily.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iYYFfN">
It’s not clear how US authorities determined which Haitians were to be expelled and which permitted to stay. Some 12,000 Haitians are currently facing deportation proceedings in which they will be able to make their case before an immigration judge for why they should be allowed to remain in the US, via asylum or other humanitarian avenues.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kb72nM">
Over the last three years, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-race-and-ethnicity-mexico-haiti-asylum-
seekers-a81ac1148118db38824d2d8f62139b87">less than 5 percent </a>of Haitians who sought asylum were ultimately successful — the lowest recorded rate amongst 83 nationalities. Those abysmal outcomes, immigrant advocates say, are <a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-race-and-ethnicity-mexico-haiti-asylum-
seekers-a81ac1148118db38824d2d8f62139b87">rooted in racism</a>;<strong> </strong>barring any major changes to the way judges review their asylum claims, it’s likely that many Haitians arriving at the border will be sent back home eventually, if not immediately.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="itGgxP">
When asked to respond to advocates’ concerns about Haitians being returned to dire conditions in their home country, the White House directed Vox to Mayorkas’s recent comments on <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/09/26/sotu-mayorkas-full-interview.cnn">CNN</a>, where he explained that the decision to resume repatriation flights was made after studying on-the-ground conditions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iziWeY">
“[W]e made a determination based upon the facts that in fact, individuals could be safely returned to Haiti. We worked closely with the Haitian government and we have provided $5.5 million in humanitarian aid to assist in their humanitarian and safe return,” he told CNN.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I07sae">
Immigrant advocates argue that the conditions in Haiti remain grim, and as of October 4, US aid for those returned to Haiti had <a href="https://time.com/6103725/haiti-deported-biden-
aid/?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=editorial&amp;utm_term=politics_immigration&amp;linkId=134600776">yet to arrive</a>. And despite Mayorkas’s claims that all is well, US officials in the country have had to stay in <a href="https://twitter.com/Yamiche/status/1441004994694631428?s=20">secure compounds</a> due to the threat of gang violence. The political situation is far from settled, with US-backed <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-
america-58564831">Prime Minister Ariel Henry</a> under investigation for his ties to the men who assassinated Moïse.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BjIlc1">
The Biden administration did not have to return Haitians to such instability.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YRBdbu">
“The administration’s hands were not tied,” said Karen Musalo, founding director of the Center for Gender &amp; Refugee Studies and the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic at UC Hastings College of the Law. “The administration was not forced to treat Haitians in this way. This is an affirmative decision that the administration is making, which is unlawful, it’s racist, it’s deplorable.”
</p>
<h3 id="JGpJx6">
Biden’s border policies don’t align with his other priorities on immigration
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JuVAR4">
Wealthy countries have long struggled with calibrating migration policy to treat vulnerable populations humanely while also respecting national borders. But the Biden administration’s border policies, which have had the effect of excluding migrants from legal protections to which they may be entitled, haven’t balanced those priorities effectively. Rather, they have suppressed a group of migrants that already have very little visibility.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZOylak">
That approach contrasts with the administration’s efforts to improve the lives of undocumented immigrants already living in the US.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FJi01J">
Biden has sought to provide legal status to at least some portion of America’s more than 10 million undocumented immigrants.
</p>
<figure class="e-image"></figure></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt="A person wearing a disposable face mask with the words “justice for immigrants” written it." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4JNMGIfSZoF1oxaK8MYH1uvzVRA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22910840/GettyImages_1345376912.jpg"/> <cite>Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images</cite></p>
<pre><code> &lt;figcaption&gt;An immigration activist participates in a rally near the White House on October 7.&lt;/figcaption&gt;</code></pre>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cuhgYd">
He backed Democrats’ latest but so far <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-
politics/2021/9/22/22685913/democrats-path-citizenship-immigration-reform-reconciliation">unsuccessful attempt</a> to include a pathway to citizenship for certain categories of immigrants — including Dreamers who came to the US as children, TPS recipients, farmworkers, and essential workers — in a budget reconciliation bill. His administration also recently <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/27/biden-administration-unveils-proposal-to-protect-dreamers-
daca">published</a> a proposed regulation seeking to codify protections for Dreamers who have been allowed to live and work in the US under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which is meant to guard against ongoing legal challenges.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jQFUY6">
Biden has also attempted to expand legal aid resources for immigrants and limit the reach of immigration enforcement inside the US. The administration recently launched an initiative to provide unaccompanied children facing deportation with a <a href="https://t.co/4Mq8oekAqC?amp=1">government-funded lawyer</a> in eight cities across the US, and has also sought to narrow the categories of undocumented immigrants who should be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/us/politics/biden-ice-immigration.html">prioritized for arrest</a>, issuing new US ICE guidance meant to focus resources on those who pose public safety threats. And on Tuesday, the administration ended <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/memo_from_secretary_mayorkas_on_worksite_enforcement.pdf">mass worksite raids</a>, which the Trump administration used to arrest hundreds of undocumented immigrants at once.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z7hCz9">
Such policies, Psaki said during a September 20 briefing, show that Biden remains “absolutely committed” to “putting in place long-overdue measures to fix our immigration system — to make it more moral, humane, and workable.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cFS0uT">
But his actions on the border have told a different story: a push to improve the lives of only certain immigrants who are already integrated into American society, while keeping others out of sight and out of mind — even if that means embracing policies designed by the Trump administration.
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Startups are betting on a psychedelic gold rush</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A person wearing an eye mask, breathing mask, headphones, and lap blanket sits in a comfortable
chair." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/48emk7qTbO-0eZsPYTozOFFlU_c=/0x0:5973x4480/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69988122/GettyImages_1230122600.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Field Trip Health currently offers ketamine-based psychotherapy at its US-based clinics. | Cole Burston/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A startup called Field Trip is opening clinics where they administer ketamine treatments. Other psychedelics, like MDMA and psilocybin, may follow.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DT4y7o">
For a long time, Chase Chewning had wanted to try a new type of psychotherapy that uses ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic that’s shown promise as a mental health treatment. Chewning, a veteran who has had several recreational experiences with MDMA and psilocybin, hoped the drug could help him with his PTSD, so he made an appointment at a Los Angeles ketamine therapy clinic operated by Field Trip Health. Having now <a href="https://twitter.com/ChaseChewning/status/1445497891435388931">completed two ketamine sessions</a>, Chewning says his experience at Field Trip has indeed helped him make progress.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r2M8jM">
“In two sessions, I am profoundly closer to my work on my PTSD,” Chewning told Recode. “And [the treatment] left me with a lot of responsibility on some new work, but very, very exciting things, because I know I’m moving in the right direction, towards better mental health.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ByDApj">
Field Trip, a Canadian startup, is betting others could have similar experiences. In fact, the company is so confident in the promise of these drugs that it’s building <a href="https://www.meetfieldtrip.com/about/field-trip-health/default.aspx">75 centers</a> for psychedelic therapy over the next three years.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a0VIx8">
Although ketamine is legal if prescribed by a doctor, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) lists psychedelics like psilocybin and MDMA in schedule 1 of the Controlled Substance Act, which says they <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/9/25/6842187/drug-schedule-list-marijuana">have no medical value and a high potential for abuse</a>. But there’s also growing evidence that psychedelics could lead to <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-
and-health/2019/1/10/18007558/denver-psilocybin-psychedelic-mushrooms-ayahuasca-depression-mental-health">game-changing medications</a> and, when combined with conventional therapy, may help people who aren’t seeing results through currently available treatments. Several US cities have already decriminalized psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is overseeing clinical trials into using psychedelics to treat PTSD and depression.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BAqwNd">
This potentially revolutionary approach to mental health also represents a tremendous commercial opportunity for health care and pharmaceutical companies. But despite promising, privately funded studies into psychedelics, current government regulations prevent the wider availability of psychedelic therapy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d6PsKQ">
Field Trip currently offers ketamine treatments at six clinics in major US cities, including New York and Atlanta. The actual ketamine therapy session — Field Trip calls this a “psychedelic exploration session” — involves a patient receiving one or two shots of ketamine into their arm muscles, initiating a 45- to 90-minute hallucinogenic journey that’s supposed to help people disconnect from their normal selves. As the drug sets in, patients cover their eyes and listen to music as they’re coached by a therapist. The next day, patients return for a follow-up appointment called an “integration session” to reflect on the treatment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rSxWFn">
“Whatever comes up in your session — new insights, perspectives — that can be fleeting if you don’t work to integrate that into your life,” Emily Hackenburg, Field Trip’s clinical director, told Recode. “Regardless of what psychedelic you’re using, preparation, journey, integration, that’s going to be the same.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ir6J79">
Field Trip says most patients undergo the ketamine program four to six times. The initial treatment, which includes a medical screening, an exploration session, and an integration session, costs $750. Because ketamine isn’t specifically approved for mental health applications by the FDA, the medication itself isn’t typically covered by insurance, though customers can try to get other aspects of the therapy reimbursed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tVvqN2">
Though its treatments are expensive, Field Trip is growing quickly. In July, the company went public through a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2021/07/29/ketamine-clinic-company-
field-trip-health-debuts-on-nasdaq/?sh=37f723041625">direct listing on Nasdaq</a> and plans to offer ketamine treatments at 20 clinics in the US by early next year. Along the way, Field Trip is also setting itself up to be a huge player in an industry that largely doesn’t exist yet. While Field Trip’s US locations are currently limited to ketamine, the company hopes to offer more psychedelics, including MDMA, when the government approves their use. Field Trip is even developing <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/field-trip-health-ltd-pursue-113000481.html">its own psychedelic</a> that’s meant to have similar effects as psilocybin, but with a much shorter trip.<strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sFGYSr">
The future of psychedelic therapy is also uncertain. While it seems likely that at least some psychedelic drugs will be approved for certain medical conditions in the years to come, it’s also possible that recreational use could be widely decriminalized or legalized. The status quo could also stay in place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CtqIlj">
The US government has only recently begun to support and review research into psychedelics’ potential mental health benefits. But that slow approach means that just a few prominent companies and nonprofits are shaping much of the narrative surrounding the emerging psychedelics industry<strong>. </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yPXMgs">
“This is really the most promising development in mental health care to come along, literally, in many decades. And that’s one reason why you don’t want a few companies controlling it,” says <a href="https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/fellows/postdoctoral-fellow/mason-
marks">Mason Marks</a>, a project lead at Harvard Law’s Petrie-Flom Center who focuses on psychedelics regulation.
</p></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eEsCAD">
Of course, not everyone is pleased that these startups could make psychedelics more mainstream. Some think these companies are capitalizing on a medical pathway for psychedelics that could ultimately exclude recreational users and make psychedelics more expensive and inaccessible. Others believe that psychedelics are being marketed as a cure-all that current research doesn’t support. <strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WzPVSv">
“Our experience with so-called pain clinics peddling untold amounts of opioids should be a cautionary tale,” Kevin Sabet, a former White House drug policy adviser who <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/3/20/8257631/kevin-sabet-marijuana-legalization">opposed legalizing cannabis</a>, told Recode. “The psychedelics fad has reached a fever pitch far above and beyond what science tells us. We cannot forget the harmful potential and opportunity for manipulation by massive corporate interests.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GB5rc9">
Nevertheless, it seems clear that the movement to make psychedelic therapy an accepted mental health treatment is gaining momentum.
</p>
<h3 id="dj8fvZ">
A psychedelics renaissance could be coming
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fwq6GZ">
The origins of the government’s apprehensive approach to psychedelic-based mental health treatment stretch back decades. In the 1950s and ’60s, the federal government invested heavily into researching drugs like LSD and psilocybin. But after the Controlled Substances Act of 1972, federal funding into the possible benefits of psychedelics quickly evaporated.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VPW3Yo">
That stance may be changing. In September, researchers at Johns Hopkins University received funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to investigate whether psilocybin could help people quit cigarettes. it appears to be the first <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10228051747066119&amp;id=1447444644">federally funded direct study</a> in decades of the mental health benefits of<strong> </strong>a traditional psychedelic drug. At the same time, the DEA, which keeps tight caps on how much psychedelics are available to US researchers, <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/09/02/2021-18935/proposed-adjustments-to-the-aggregate-production-
quotas-for-schedule-i-and-ii-controlled-substances">recently proposed</a> increasing the nationwide availability of psilocybin from 30 grams to 1,500 grams.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Packets of ketamine in a
tray." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hp7Py0t-fahNtA3HNl2b36Yxmrw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22922238/GettyImages_1230122160.jpg"/> <cite>Cole Burston/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Ketamine can be taken in the form of a lozenge, an IV, a nasal spray, or an intramuscular shot.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z02s1d">
There is also a growing number of efforts to make psychedelics more widely available not only to researchers but also to patients. In the last few years, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/4/17/18412081/denver-psilocybin-magic-mushrooms-decriminalization-
ballot-initiative">Denver</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/06/05/730061916/oakland-city-council-effectively-
decriminalizes-psychedelic-mushrooms">Oakland</a>, and Washington, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-
politics/2020/11/3/21546824/live-results-psychedelic-drugs-washington-dc-oregon">DC</a>, have decriminalized psilocybin, and in 2023, supervised psilocybin-based therapy will become legal in <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/psilocybin-treatment-for-mental-health-gets-legal-
framework/">Oregon</a>. Meanwhile, a psilocybin regimen for depression is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01530-3">in phase 2 trials</a>, and an MDMA-assisted treatment for people with severe PTSD is currently in <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03537014">phase 3 clinical trials</a>. The FDA has also already <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/3/6/18253041/ketamine-johnson-johnson-
spravato">approved</a> a Johnson &amp; Johnson drug called Spravato, a nasal spray that’s derived from ketamine, to treat depression.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BoTHSb">
In anticipation of looser regulations, there’s a burgeoning psychedelic health care industry made up of companies that want to offer psychedelic treatments or develop new drugs based on psychedelic compounds. In addition to Field Trip, there are 31 publicly traded firms focused on psychedelics, and at least 18 more that are still private, according to the <a href="https://psilocybinalpha.com/psilocybin-stocks-shroom-
stocks">psychedelics industry tracker</a> Psilocybin Alpha. Inspired by promising but limited research showing that psychedelics can help treat not only treatment-resistant depression but also <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/6/27/11544250/psychedelic-drugs-lsd-psilocybin-effects">addiction and end-of-life anxiety</a>, venture capitalists, including <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/18/peter-thiel-backed-psychedelic-
start-ups-shares-pop-in-wall-street-debut.html">Peter Thiel</a>, have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into these companies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n2Egjo">
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm. And that makes sense because there are many people who have suffered for many years for whom this has brought relief,” Sharmin Ghaznavi, an associate director of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics, told Recode. “But we have a lot that we need to learn, and we owe that to our patients.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wdQrVh">
The government has been slow to support research into the potential benefits of psychedelics. That means philanthropies and private companies have funded almost all of the recent studies into the medical applications of drugs like MDMA and psilocybin. Many of those studies come with important caveats, including small sample sizes and unrepresentative patient pools. One <a href="https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-018-1824-6">2018 analysis of 18 psychedelics studies</a> found that 82 percent of the participants were white.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="42DG2p">
But even as research into psychedelics continues, companies are already developing everything from apps for guided trips and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/psychedelic-mushrooms-retreats-vacations-
psilocybin/2021/01/07/fd7e998e-4f83-11eb-b96e-0e54447b23a1_story.html">mushroom-facilitated retreats</a> to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natanponieman/2021/08/20/this-tech-startup-wants-to-use-virtual-reality-to-improve-
psychedelics-therapy-and-it-raised-15-million-to-do-it/?sh=96ed70f24750">psychedelic-assisted virtual reality experiences</a>. After all, as with any big pharmaceutical breakthrough, the future of psychedelics could be extremely profitable.
</p>
<h3 id="swGfpa">
How Field Trip plans to get ahead
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tvkgUM">
Field Trip is well on its way to being a major player in the psychedelic health care industry. A centerpiece of Field Trip’s plan is the design of its clinics. The idea, the company says, is that psychedelics will need a brand new environment for medical care. Doctors’ offices are too sterile, and therapists’ offices don’t have the medical staff, time, or equipment to monitor patients. After all, trips on more intense psychedelic drugs require several hours and lots of supervision.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7sdMGY">
That’s why, at Field Trip’s New York location, there are serene rooms with reclining chairs and headphones for patients to use during their exploration sessions. Because ketamine can increase blood pressure, there are blood pressure monitors on-site, too. There are also rooms for post-trip reflection, where there are soft fur rugs, easels for drawing, and a gong. The space also includes a wall covered in live moss, a bubble-blowing machine, and several copies of Michael Pollan’s influential book about psychedelics, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/5/16/17358484/michael-pollan-
how-to-change-your-mind-book-drugs-engelbart-kara-swisher-podcast"><em>How to Change Your Mind</em></a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z0SIAr">
“There’s lots of shoe companies out there, but Nike has a very prominent voice in that conversation,” Field Trip CEO Ronan Levy told Recode. “I want Field Trip to do that for psychedelics.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<pre><code> &lt;img alt="The interior of a Field Trip clinic featuring floor cushions and a live moss wall." </code></pre>
src=“https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LFlIl4xhOshIPOnYEBW2bouV9rA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox- cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22922244/GettyImages_1230122272.jpg” /&gt; <cite>Cole Burston/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Field Trip hopes to open 75 clinics by 2024.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MvpAC7">
While the company had about $100 million on hand at the end of June, Field Trip is currently making less than $1 million on patient services, according to its <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-
release/2021/08/16/2281618/0/en/Field-Trip-Health-Ltd-Reports-Fiscal-First-Quarter-2022-Financial-Results.html">most recent quarterly report</a>. One of the biggest challenges for Field Trip is that most people don’t have several thousand dollars lying around to spend on ketamine therapy. But if the FDA were to approve a psychedelic drug for a mental health condition, insurance companies may start to cover more<strong> </strong>Field Trip treatments, bringing them a huge new customer base.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KMUUMr">
There are certain conditions, like a history of psychosis or a ketamine allergy, that rule out Field Trip’s offering for some patients. Levy says the safety of ketamine has been well established and that Field Trip hasn’t had any medical issues. But others believe there is a litany of open questions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ulIk2p">
Jeffrey Lieberman, <a href="https://www.nynorc.cuimc.columbia.edu/profile/jeffrey-lieberman-md">a Columbia psychiatry professor,</a> says the enthusiasm about psychedelics is outpacing the science, and he worries that mishaps could lead to backlash and a return to restrictions. If MDMA is approved for PTSD, for example, companies could end up prescribing the drug for other conditions that it hasn’t been approved for. That practice, which is sometimes called off-label prescribing, is already in place for ketamine. Lieberman added that we don’t fully understand the long- term safety of ketamine. There is also evidence ketamine clinics throughout the US are overhyping the drug’s abilities and not properly screening patients, acccording to a 2018 <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2018/09/24/ketamine-clinics-
severe-depression-treatment/">investigation</a> by STAT.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="biHiZl">
There are other objections. A significant number of people oppose even the monitored use of psychedelics, including the <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Oregon_Measure_109,_Psilocybin_Mushroom_Services_Program_Initiative_(2020)">44 percent of Oregon residents</a> who voted against the state’s recent measure to legalize a supervised psilocybin therapy model much like Field Trip’s. There are also psychedelic advocates who believe that allowing companies like Field Trip to do business will end up medicalizing and driving up the cost of psychedelics, which they think should <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/3aqgdy/psychedelics-are-a-billion-dollar-business-and-no-one-can-agree-who-should-
control-it">be freely available</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zUvzly">
The companies and people hoping to make psychedelic-based mental health care mainstream say this trend is about far more than just the drugs themselves.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nmIhWF">
“Taking a gram of mushrooms recreationally with your friends sitting around and giggling at YouTube music videos … it’s harmless,” Sanjay Singhal, a tech entrepreneur who directs the <a href="https://nikean.org">Nikean Foundation</a>, a nonprofit that funds psychedelics research, told Recode. “But it’s completely different from taking five grams, knocking you out in the presence of a therapist for five hours while your brain processes whatever trauma, anxiety, emotional issues you might have.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZgYhxs">
We’re bound to hear more about psychedelic therapy in the months to come. But even if psychedelics’ legal status remains the same, it’s clear to some patients that there’s a place for psychedelic therapy — even if it’s just the existing ketamine treatments — in our health care system. To Chewning, the veteran, these startups are addressing the demand for better mental health care and providing a new option for people who haven’t had success with traditional medications and therapy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EvRtNR">
“I just look at what they’ve done for me personally, I look at what they have done for people I know,” he said. “We’re being put on a path toward a higher quality of life in the near future.”
</p>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why Merck’s Covid-19 pill molnupiravir could be so important</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/5S5MUYTnIDFFQBm3fy5sYB7T3Yk=/180x0:2847x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69938985/AP21274373443876_copy.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Merck is reporting that Molnupiravir, a new Covid-19 drug, reduces the risk of hospitalization and death. | Mel Evans/AP
</figcaption></figure></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The pharma giant said its new antiviral drug cut hospitalizations in half for at-risk Covid-19 patients.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DGN8wS">
The Food and Drug Administration may soon authorize the first pill to treat Covid-19 after the pharmaceutical giant Merck reported strong results from its <a href="https://www.merck.com/news/merck-and-
ridgebacks-investigational-oral-antiviral-molnupiravir-reduced-the-risk-of-hospitalization-or-death-by-
approximately-50-percent-compared-to-placebo-for-patients-with-mild-or-moderat/">antiviral drug molnupiravir</a> earlier this month. On Monday, Merck <a href="https://www.merck.com/news/merck-and-ridgeback-announce-submission-of-emergency-
use-authorization-application-to-the-u-s-fda-for-molnupiravir-an-investigational-oral-antiviral-medicine-for-the-
treatment-of-mild-to-moderate-c/">filed for an emergency use authorization</a> from the FDA, which would allow doctors to begin prescribing the drug. Based on the approval timeline for past Covid-19 drugs, the FDA could make a decision within days or weeks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Be9a56">
Clinical trials showed that the drug reduced the risk of hospitalization and death in at-risk patients by 50 percent, according to the company’s interim analysis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NMQg4p">
“The extraordinary impact of this pandemic demands that we move with unprecedented urgency, and that is what our teams have done by submitting this application for molnupiravir to the FDA within 10 days of receiving the data,” said Robert M. Davis, CEO and president of Merck, in a statement.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hACqqh">
A new and effective Covid-19 treatment — if approved by health regulators — could be a versatile tool for doctors to treat Covid-19 patients and could ultimately save lives. While there are a <a href="https://www.vox.com/22219434/covid-19-drugs-treatment-monoclonal-antibodies-
plasma-antiviral-regeneron-remdesivir">number of treatments for Covid-19</a> on the market, many of them are expensive, difficult to administer, not widely available, or only marginally effective. Meanwhile, treatments that have little evidence behind them, like the antiparasitic drug <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-
covid19/22686147/covid-19-vaccine-betadine-hydroxychloroquine-ivermectin-trump-conspiracy">ivermectin</a> and the anti- malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, have gained traction <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-
covid19/22686147/covid-19-vaccine-betadine-hydroxychloroquine-ivermectin-trump-conspiracy">in some circles</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OABsc4">
Molnupiravir, originally developed to treat influenza, could solve many of these challenges. It’s administered as a twice-a-day pill for five days, compared to other Covid-19 treatments that require expensive intravenous transfusions, such as monoclonal antibodies and convalescent plasma. The antiviral drug <a href="https://www.vox.com/21530401/remdesivir-approved-by-fda-covid-19-fda-gilead-veklury">remdesivir</a>, currently the only drug with full Food and Drug Administration approval to treat Covid-19, also has to be delivered into the bloodstream.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JSamXo">
A drug like molnupiravir (the name is a reference to <a href="https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/molnupiravir-thor-s-hammer-delivers">Thor’s hammer</a>, Mjölnir) could also help compensate for persistent gaps in Covid-19 vaccination coverage, both in the United States and abroad.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5roPr0">
However, the results were announced in a company press release, which carries less scientific weight than a peer-reviewed paper or even a pre-print article that lays out the data for outside scientists to examine. Merck’s findings did come from a randomized phase 3 clinical trial of 775 adult Covid-19 patients. The participants had mild to moderate disease and were deemed to be at-risk but not hospitalized when the trial began in early August.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ViNjQw">
By day 29 of the trial, 7.3 percent of patients who received molnupiravir had died or were hospitalized, compared to 14.1 percent of patients who were in the placebo group (meaning they did not receive the drug). Merck says molnupiravir was also effective against coronavirus variants, including gamma, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22547537/delta-coronavirus-variant-covid-19-vaccines-masks-lockdown">delta</a>, and mu. The trial was halted, with the approval of regulators, once these results showed the drug’s effectiveness.
</p>
<div id="S4kyta">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
A group of independent experts saw the data and said “we’ve seen enough”<br/><br/>And stopped the trial because the drug was clearly working<br/><br/>That’s important verification<br/><br/>It also makes me far more optimistic about other similar therapies being studies for COVID will pan out<br/><br/>3/4
</p>
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (<span class="citation" data-cites="ashishkjha">@ashishkjha</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/ashishkjha/status/1443949822206103558?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 1, 2021</a>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kIAwHy">
“With these compelling results, we are optimistic that molnupiravir can become an important medicine as part of the global effort to fight the pandemic and will add to Merck’s unique legacy of bringing forward breakthroughs in infectious diseases when they are needed most,” said Davis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gvxaey">
The federal government is already planning for its potential approval: It has committed to buying <a href="https://www.merck.com/news/merck-
announces-supply-agreement-with-u-s-government-for-molnupiravir-an-investigational-oral-antiviral-candidate-for-
treatment-of-mild-to-moderate-covid-19/">1.7 million courses of molnupiravir treatments</a> for $1.2 billion (about $700 per course), and production of the drug has already begun. Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Merck expect to make 10 million courses of the drug by the end of the year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iwQlJh">
It could still be weeks or months before most people will have access to the little brown pill. And even when it is available, there may still be holdouts resistant to getting treated for the disease.
</p>
<h3 id="HIrK6Z">
How Merck’s new antiviral drug molnupiravir works
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hERrJI">
Viruses are tricky beasts to corner. They are passive parasites and can’t reproduce without hijacking the machinery of a host cell. That makes it really difficult to come up with a drug that can interfere with a virus’s life cycle without also causing collateral damage to healthy human cells. And because viruses mutate so quickly, an effective treatment can become less so over time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RTPT3Q">
Compare that to bacteria, which contain all the biological hardware they need to make copies of themselves. Their machinery is different enough from human cells that the class of drugs known as antibiotics can kill off many bacteria with minimal damage to humans.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vI68K3">
Molnupiravir works a lot like the antiviral drug remdesivir (-vir is a suffix commonly used for antiviral drugs). The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, makes copies of itself by encoding instructions on RNA, which is made up of “base” molecules identified by the letters A, C, U, and G. While remdesivir imitates A (adenosine), molnupiravir can mimic U (uracil) or C (cytosine).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JHCpRD">
When the virus incorporates remdesivir into its RNA, the drug causes its reproductive cycle to stall. Molnupiravir works a little differently, causing genetic <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41594-021-00651-0">mutations that hamper the virus</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o3umgG">
Crucially, these drugs can fool the virus, but they don’t fool human cells, so they have a targeted effect and for the most part leave the human cells alone.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RFSIy7">
Merck didn’t note any specific side effects from molnupiravir in its press release and said the rate of complications was similar between the placebo group and the treatment group in the clinical trial. Unspecified side effects occurred in 35 percent of molnupiravir recipients but occurred in 40 percent of the placebo group.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3oXp7E">
Molnupiravir faced some of controversy in earlier stages of development. Several researchers previously raised concerns that molnupiravir’s mechanism could lead to some <a href="https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/comment/ridgeback-mercks-molnupiravir-for-covid-19-has-moa-administration-
advantages-but-phase-iia-faces-execution-obstacles-may-have-value-gaps/">unanticipated problems</a>. Rick Bright, the former head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, alleged in a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/11/coronavirus-drug-ridgeback-biotherapeutics/">whistleblower complaint</a> last year that his agency was <a href="https://cen.acs.org/pharmaceuticals/drug-development/emerging-
antiviral-takes-aim-COVID-19/98/web/2020/05">pressured into funding</a> the manufacture of the drug (then known as <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04405739">EIDD-2801</a>) before they received adequate safety data. The FDA tends to pay close attention to safety concerns as it evaluates drugs for emergency use.
</p>
<div id="kOHwHH">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
3/5 one concern that it introduces virus mutations or potential mutagenic probably means it won’t be recommended in pregnancy. I seem to remember my good colleague <a href="https://twitter.com/RickABright?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="RickABright">@RickABright</span></a> had a concern about this drug when he was at BARDA so maybe he can comment. Also important to remember
</p>
— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (<span class="citation" data-cites="PeterHotez">@PeterHotez</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterHotez/status/1443898540573536263?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 1, 2021</a>
</blockquote>
</div>
<h3 id="gnfzah">
Molnupiravir fills in a crucial gap in the response to Covid-19
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PcGGbW">
While the US has multiple highly effective vaccines that help our immune systems fight Covid-19, the vaccination rate has slowed and many holdouts remain. At the same time, many other countries still don’t have access to enough vaccines. The unvaccinated continue to make up the majority of hospitalizations and deaths, with fatalities currently around 2,000 per day in the US alone.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hJ7zTF">
Treatments for Covid-19, therefore, remain a vital component of the response to the pandemic. But developing new drugs to treat an illness is expensive and time-consuming, which is why researchers have been eager to find off-the-shelf therapies that have already been deemed safe to use against other ailments. Some have proven fruitful, like the corticosteroid <a href="https://www.vox.com/21292752/coronavirus-steroids-dexamethasone-
covid-19-drug-treatment">dexamethasone</a>. Scientists have also seen promise in the antidepressant drug <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22619137/fluvoxamine-covid-ivermectin-together-study-mcmaster">fluvoxamine</a> as a therapy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="euB9kx">
New drugs like molnupiravir require more testing and review, but they offer the possibility of a stronger, more targeted approach. A drug like molnupiravir could be especially useful because it is administered in the early stages of the disease. Since it’s just a pill, it may spare the patient a trip to a clinic for a transfusion for treatments like monoclonal antibodies. That reduces the chances of an infected patient transmitting the virus to medical staff, and it averts potential complications associated with transfusions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kzolyy">
And while $700 for a course of molnupiravir isn’t exactly cheap, a transfusion setup alone can cost $1,000, and that’s on top of the cost of the drugs delivered intravenously. A course of monoclonal antibodies can cost <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/florida-texas-turn-to-antibody-treatments-as-covid-19-surges-11629284400">$2,100</a>, while remdesivir can cost <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/6/29/21307528/voxcare-remdesivir-price-
coronavirus">$3,100</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UycER9">
Pills are also much easier to store and transport than transfused drugs, so they can reach more remote areas with fewer resources.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4wnkBS">
That’s why some of the biggest effects of molnupiravir could occur in other countries, particularly in places where Covid-19 vaccines have yet to gain much of a foothold. Merck said it is setting up tiered pricing for molnupiravir, meaning that it could cost less in other countries, and is licensing its production to <a href="https://www.merck.com/news/amid-humanitarian-crisis-in-india-
merck-announces-voluntary-licensing-agreements-with-five-indian-generics-manufacturers-to-accelerate-and-expand-global-
access-to-molnupiravir-an-investigational-ora/">five generic drug manufacturers in India</a> to build up its supplies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZleX3I">
Treatments do help people get better — but it’s important to remember that vaccination remains the most effective tactic for controlling the pandemic. Vaccination can prevent sickness in the first place, and even the most expensive vaccines are dirt cheap compared to most therapies for the disease. The initial two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/d415a01e-d065-44a9-bad4-f9235aa04c1a">cost about $50</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ILWZx9">
Other measures beyond drugs remain critical too. Wearing masks, social distancing, and testing for Covid-19 are still effective, and the arrival of an effective drug won’t be a reason to let our guard down. The existing pillars of pandemic response will remain crucial to keeping this deadly disease in check.
</p>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ladida, Aira and Petronia please</strong> - Ladida, Aira and Petronia pleased when the horses were exercised here on Wednesday (Oct. 13) morning.Sand track: 600m: Fassbinder (Zervan) 41. Easy.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Shardul Thakur replaces Axar Patel in India’s main squad for T20 World Cup</strong> - With pace all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who plays for Mumbai Indians, not bowling during the IPL because of fitness issues, the selectors wanted a cover for him.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>BCCI extends deadline for purchasing tender document for new IPL teams</strong> - It has now been extended till October 20</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Fan-inspired Indian team jersey for T20 World Cup unveiled</strong> - The new shirt, called the ‘Billion Cheers Jersey’, carries their chants and cheers from iconic past matches, transformed into unique soundwave patterns</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sprinter Hima Das tests positive for COVID-19</strong> - “I look forward to utilising this time to recover and come back stronger than before,” she said in a tweet.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Jairam Ramesh, Owaisi attack Rajnath Singh for his ‘Gandhi-Savarkar comment’</strong> - Opposition leaders allege the Defence Minister of “trying to rewrite history”</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Kerala High Court orders Kochi City Commissioner to investigate allegations of ransom against police</strong> - A suo motu case was initiated on basis of newspaper report and Justice Devan Ramachandran has directed the Commissioner to inquire into all aspects mentioned in the media report and file a report in a sealed cover before the court</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>People friendly administration in J-K, prime objective of central govt: Union minister Balyan</strong> - Immediately after his arrival in Samba, Balyan visited Zero Line village Barota of Ramgarh and far-flung hilly village Goran of Sumb block and assured the people that mobile animal clinics would be opened in each block to felicitate issues through on-call services.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Kashmir will remain part of India even if I am killed: Farooq Abdullah</strong> - Speaking at a condolence meeting for Supinder Kaur at a gurdwara in Srinagar, Farooq Abdullah said the people of Kashmir have to be courageous and fight the killers together.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>‘PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan to enhance competitiveness, promote manufacturing’</strong> - Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a ₹100-lakh-crore PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity in the country.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Brexit: EU to offer fewer Northern Ireland border checks on British goods</strong> - The UK says current rules impose too many barriers to the sale of chilled meats and other products.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Huge blackmail and corruption trial opens in Spain</strong> - In the dock is a notorious ex-police chief who is at the centre of a web of scandal and intrigue.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Energy prices: EU unveils plan to ease Europe’s gas crisis</strong> - The approval of tax cuts and a plan to buy fuel collectively were put forward as energy prices soar.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dutch crown princess could marry woman and be queen - Rutte</strong> - A hypothetical same-sex marriage for Princess Amalia would not be a legal problem, says Mark Rutte.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Shoppers told to plan ahead for Christmas amid port delays</strong> - The UK’s biggest commercial port Felixstowe says it currently has 50,000 containers waiting to be collected.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Free next-gen Quake upgrade brings 4K gibs at 120 fps to PS5 and Xbox</strong> - PS5 and Xbox Series X/S get 120 fps support; DualSense support a bonus for PS players. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1803612">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Battlefield 2042 beta impressions: Strong ideas buried in a buggy mess</strong> - With just over a month until launch, DICE’s latest shooter still needs a lot of work. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1802723">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>China’s solar power has reached price parity with coal</strong> - Adding storage could allow solar to produce nearly half of China’s electricity. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1803649">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Drop’s new mechanical keyboards go up to $500</strong> - Drop drops new ready-to-buy keyboards at steep prices. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1803608">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The 2022 BMW i4 is the electric BMW sedan you’ve been waiting for</strong> - The 536-hp electric sedan is more powerful than an M3. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1803395">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Sex is like golf,</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Playing every hole is the goal.
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/pightlysitiful"> /u/pightlysitiful </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/q71vaj/sex_is_like_golf/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/q71vaj/sex_is_like_golf/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>The old king was suspicious of the young queen cheating on him.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So, with the help of a witch, he placed an invisible blade in the Queen’s Hoo-Haw.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
3 days later, the King summoned all the men he suspected and ordered them to take of their pants.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
To the King’s surprise, he found that all their penises had cuts in them from the blade, except for the minister’s penis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The king immediately ordered the execution of the men .
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He then turned to the minister and said
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Of all the men close to me, you are the only one loyal”.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
" You are not just my minister, but my closest friend as well".
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The minister was elated and replied with tears in his eyes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Slankyou my lord”.
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/rhshi14"> /u/rhshi14 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/q74122/the_old_king_was_suspicious_of_the_young_queen/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/q74122/the_old_king_was_suspicious_of_the_young_queen/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>After 20 years of marriage, a couple was lying in bed one evening….</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
when the wife felt her husband begin to touch her in ways he hadn’t in quite some time. It almost tickled as his fingers started at her neck, and then began moving down past the small of her back. He then slid his hand across her shoulders and neck, slowly worked it down one side, then the other, stopping just over her lower stomach. He then proceeded to place his hand on her left inner arm, caressed downward again, working down her side, passed gently over and then in between her buttock and down her leg to her calf. Then, he proceeded up her inner thigh, stopping just at the uppermost portion of her leg. He continued in the same manner on her right side, then suddenly stopped, rolled over and became silent.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
As she had become quite aroused by this caressing, she asked in a loving voice, “That was wonderful. Why did you stop?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I found the remote,” he said.
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/crazyfortaco"> /u/crazyfortaco </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/q6pl8q/after_20_years_of_marriage_a_couple_was_lying_in/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/q6pl8q/after_20_years_of_marriage_a_couple_was_lying_in/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>As a boy, I was made to believe that earwigs lived in ears</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Henceforth, I was terrified of cockroaches
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Saber101"> /u/Saber101 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/q76xuf/as_a_boy_i_was_made_to_believe_that_earwigs_lived/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/q76xuf/as_a_boy_i_was_made_to_believe_that_earwigs_lived/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Joke: Creation</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>Seems God was just about done creating the universe, but He had two extra things left in his bag of creations, so He decided to split them between Adam and Eve. He told the couple that one of the things He had to give away was the ability to stand up while urinating.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>“It’s a very handy thing,” God told the couple, “I was wondering if either one of you wanted the ability.”</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>Adam jumped up and blurted, “Oh, give that to me! I’d love to oh please, oh please, oh please, let me have that ability. It’d be so great! When I’m working in the garden or naming the animals. I could just stand there and let it fly. It’d be so cool, I could write my name in the sand. Oh please God, let it be me who You give that gift to, let me stand and pee, oh please…”</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>On and on he went like an excited little boy who had to pee. Eve just smiled and told God that if Adam really wanted that so badly, that he should have it. It seemed to be the sort of thing that would make him happy and she really wouldn’t mind if Adam were the one given this ability. And so Adam was given the ability to control the direction of his misdirection while in a vertical position. And so, he was happy and did celebrate by wetting down the bark on the tree nearest him, laughing with delight all the while. And it was good.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>“Fine,” God said, looking back into His bag of leftover gifts, “What’s left here? Oh yes, Multiple orgasms…”</em>
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/reddit_4_info"> /u/reddit_4_info </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/q70xye/joke_creation/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/q70xye/joke_creation/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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