Page 16 - Abacoa Community News - July '21

Page 16, Abacoa

The Scripps Research Institute News from page 14 study’s corresponding author Thomas Rogers, M.D., Ph.D., an
Extensive Study Identifies adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Immunology
and Microbiology at Scripps Research and assistant professor
Over A Dozen Existing Drugs of Medicine at UC San Diego.

From the thousands of drugs screened, the researchers
As Potential COVID-19 identified a total of 90 compounds that prevented SARS-CoV-2
from replicating in at least one of the human cell lines. Of those,
Therapies 13 had the highest potential to be repurposed as COVID-19
therapies, based on their potency, cell line-independent activity
FDA-approved drugs or experimental drugs with ample or a likely mechanism of action, pharmacokinetic properties and
health data could be rapidly tested in humans for treatment human safety profiles.
of COVID-19. avenues for repurposing existing oral medications with efficacy Four of the drugs – halofantrine, nelfinavir, simeprevir and
Mining the world’s most comprehensive drug repurposing against SARS-CoV-2,” he adds. “We have identified promising manidipine – are already FDA approved and nine others are in
collection for COVID-19 therapies, scientists have identified 90 existing drugs and are also leveraging our findings to develop various stages of the drug development process.
existing drugs or drug candidates with antiviral activity against optimized antivirals that will be more effective against SARS- From the drug combination screens, the researchers found
the coronavirus that’s driving the ongoing global pandemic. CoV-2, including variants and drug resistant strains, as well as 19 drugs that had an additive effect when administered with
Among those compounds, the Scripps Research study against other coronaviruses that currently exist or might emerge remdesivir, the antiviral produced by the pharmaceutical
identified four clinically approved drugs and nine compounds in the future.” company Gilead that is FDA approved for use in patients
in other stages of development with strong potential to be In a collaboration between Calibr, the drug discovery division diagnosed with COVID-19. An additive effect means that the
repurposed as oral drugs for COVID-19, according to results of Scripps Research, and a team of researchers in the institute’s drugs were both active against the virus when applied together.
published June 3 in the journal Nature Communications. Department of Immunology and Microbiology, the study tested “The potential advantage of a therapeutic strategy that uses a
Of the drugs that prevented the coronavirus from replicating more than 12,000 drugs in two different types of human cells combination of drugs is that taking a lower dose of any one drug
in human cells, 19 were found to work in concert with or boost infected with SARS-CoV-2. could reduce the risk of side effects of that drug,” says Malina
the activity of remdesivir, an antiviral therapy approved for The drugs used in the study came from the ReFRAME drug Bakowski, Ph.D., the lead author on the Nature Communications
treatment of COVID-19. repurposing library, which was established by Calibr in 2018 paper and principal investigator at Calibr.
“While we now have effective vaccines against COVID-19, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Two additional drugs went a step further to have a synergistic
we still lack highly effective antiviral drugs that can prevent tackle areas of urgent unmet medical need, especially neglected effect on remdesivir, meaning the drugs heightened remdesivir’s
COVID-19 infections or stop them from worsening,” says Peter tropical diseases. The collection contains FDA-approved drugs ability to suppress the virus. These two drugs were riboprine, a
Schultz, Ph.D., president and CEO of Scripps Research. and other experimental compounds that have been tested for compound that’s been tested as a preventative for nausea and
“Our results raise the possibility of a number of promising safety in humans. surgical infection, and 10-deazaaminopterin, a derivative of the
“Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw that ReFRAME
could be leveraged to screen for hits against SARS-CoV-2,” says vitamin folic acid.
Based on the results of cell culture screens, the researchers

Financial Focus Arnab Chatterjee, Ph.D., vice president of medicinal chemistry at tested the best-performing drug candidates in human tissue
Calibr. “In the months that followed, we launched many scientific
cells and an animal model to determine which are most likely to
collaborations to speed drug discovery, both internally at Scripps work in human patients. Building on their success in identifying
How Does Social Security Fit Research and with partners nationally and internationally.” potential COVID-19 therapies, the Scripps Research team is

continuing to advance other promising candidates through their
In the Scripps Research study, the scientists treated two
Into Retirement? different types of laboratory-cultured SARS-CoV-2-infected drug discovery pipeline.
human cells with each of the 12,000 drugs from ReFRAME. “The results from the cellular assays and animal models are
By Sally Sima Stah After 24 or 48 hours, they measured the level of viral infection very promising and the need for medical remedies to address
Here’s something to in the cells to determine if the drugs prevented the virus from COVID-19 remains urgent,” says Schultz. “It is critical we
think about: You could replicating. In some cases, they applied two drugs at a time to proceed with the utmost rigor to determine what is safe and
spend two, or even three, see if the compounds would work together against the virus. effective, as diligence is the most expedient path to finding new
decades in retirement. “Some of the most effective antiviral strategies are ‘cocktails’ therapies that will make a difference for patients.”
To meet your income in which patients are given several different drugs to combat the Results from the screen of the ReFRAME library are
needs for all those years, infection, such as those used to treat HIV infections,” says the available at the reframedb.org data portal.
you’ll generally need
a sizable amount of
retirement assets. How
will Social Security fit
into the picture?
For most people, Social Security won’t be enough to
cover the cost of living in retirement. Nonetheless, Social
Security benefits are still valuable, so you’ll want to do
whatever you can to maximize them.
Your first move is to determine when you should start
taking Social Security. You can begin collecting benefits
when you reach 62 – but should you? If you were to turn
62 this year, your payments would only be about 71 percent
of what you’d get if you waited until your full retirement
age, which is 66 years and 10 months. (“Full retirement
age” varies, depending on when you were born, but for
most people today, it will be between 66 and 67.) Every
month you wait between now and your full retirement age,
your benefits will increase. If you still want to delay taking
benefits beyond your full retirement age, your payments
will increase by 8 percent each year, until you’re 70, when
they “max out.” Regardless of when you file, you’ll also
receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment.
So, when should you start claiming your benefits?
There’s no one “right” answer for everyone. If you turn 62
and you need the money, your choice might be made for
you. But if you have sufficient income from other sources,
you’re in good health and you have longevity in your
family, or you’re still working, it might be worthwhile to
wait until your full retirement age, or perhaps even longer,
to start collecting.
Another key consideration is spousal benefits. If your
own full retirement benefit is less than 50 percent of your

Financial Focus on page 18

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