The possible efficacy of BTK inhibitors lessening the effects of COVID-19

[bkoffman]

Evaluating the effects and outcomes of COVID-19 infection in cancer patients:

In this week's CLL Society Tuesday Alert, Dr. Alan Skarbnik shared that while China, and Barcelona, Spain yield data, and our author himself, has looked into the possible efficacy of BTK inhibitors lessening the effects of COVID-19, the full picture which might adequately address cancer patients’ worries remains incomplete. Nevertheless, we urge you to read Dr. Skarbnik’s interesting article to keep in the know with what is being analyzed. Read here: bit.ly/2MB6jJ2

[Mystic75]

Thank you!

[JigFettler Volunteer]

2 months ago NSAIDs were recommended to be avoided with COVID - now in a therapeutic trial. Hydroxychloroquin to BTKIs, Ibuprofen to Remdesovir - is this not evidence for no one really knowing? Or perhaps reflects the extraordinary complexity of the the Covid illness.

Nevertheless - thank you for the opportunity of hope.

Best wishes

Jig

[Ernest2]

Many thanks for that Brian, seems to confirm the good news for CLLers particularly if we have some Ibrutinib in the back pocket

For cancer patients as a whole the 33% mortality rate compares against that for the general population of about 14% if I take the 70 to 79 year age group, using data from the following website:

statista.com/statistics/110...

So risk about doubled. There are probably some factors I've missed there.

I spoke to my consultant last week and my understanding was all CLLers who had contracted Covid-19 had done ok. (Low numbers though, like the Barcelona set).

I am hoping this Covid stuff is going to mysteriously disapear.

Best wishes to all,

Ernest

[bkoffman CLL CURE Hero]

ASH's very small registry has a MR of about 1 in 3 in CLL.

[avzuclav]

Fresh data on the subject of BTK inhibition with COVID-19:

immunology.sciencemag.org/c...

Less data but more drama here:

forbes.com/sites/nathanvard...

[zaax]

Does anyone know what is the number of people have to go to hospital compared the to normal population?

[cajunjeff in reply to zaax]

The hospitalization rate is calculated by dividing the number of people who are currently hospitalized by the number of active cases, which is the number of total cases minus deaths and estimated recoveries.

I read in Texas it was just under 10 % . But I think that is misleading because so many covid cases go unreported.

My guess is that the hospitalization rate is under 5 % for all cases and the mortality rate under 1%. My rationale is that if a state has 50000 confirmed covid cases, it may have several times that cases where people had mild symptoms or no symptoms and never got tested.

[bkoffman CLL CURE Hero in reply to cajunjeff]

I suspect the same.

[zaax in reply to cajunjeff]

Sorry I meant us with CLL v the normal population

[bkoffman CLL CURE Hero]

Very small numbers on the ASH registry record that too. We can a link on our website, then just filter for CLL.

[Jonquiljo]

Do you mean this link: ashresearchcollaborative.or... ?

[bkoffman CLL CURE Hero in reply to Jonquiljo]

Yes, put CLL in as the filter. Looks like never having smoked helps.

[Jonquiljo in reply to bkoffman]

Yup. Small data sets aren't very helpful!

[Big_Dee]

Hello bkoffman

One only needs to read latest headline, "Lancet, New England Journal retract Covid-19 studies, including one that raised safety concerns about malaria drugs" to see how the CV-19 has been politicized, sad. Thanks for your guiding light. Blessings.

[bkoffman CLL CURE Hero in reply to Big_Dee]

Makes me sad both as a patient and as a doctor/scientist.

[Jonquiljo in reply to Big_Dee]

COVID-19 has been enormously politicized and subsequently turned into a chaotic scare-fest in the news media. We have all been living in that nightmare for a very long time. It’s hard to figure out what is real and what isn’t. After all this time, I feel not much more informed than I was in February. Since COVID is of special importance to anyone with CLL - we all want facts, not hype and political nonsense.

From what I gather about the recent retractions of articles in scientific journals is that the data sources were not very sound - a common problem when people use 3rd party data to make some point. A lot of over-eager people looking to get their papers into journals fast - and instead cut corners.

I can understand the need for data as COVID is such a large and overwhelming problem. This just makes me wonder how the “peer-review” system has broken down in the midst of the pandemic. Any first rate journal should review an article thoroughly so that later retraction is highly unlikely. This just makes scientific and medical journals look only a bit better than tabloids when it comes to COVID. When you add pre-publication sites to the mix, it really muddies the water.

[bkoffman CLL CURE Hero]

Lancet has a bad reputation for shoddy reviews but NEJM is the pinnacle medical journal.