Will a small, long-shot U.S. company end up producing the best coronavirus vaccine? (Page 1/2)
rinselberg NOV 04, 10:48 PM
"Will a small, long-shot U.S. company end up producing the best coronavirus vaccine?"
Meredith Wadman for ScienceMag(.org); November 3, 2020.

There's several minutes here of reading. It includes a very "science-y" looking illustrated diagram of how the Novavax vaccine candidate is produced.

"... tests showed the Novavax spike is stable for many weeks at 2°C to 8°C—a key advantage over the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which need to be stored at –20°C and –70°C, respectively, and once thawed, last only days in the refrigerator."

Will Novavax end up jubilantly "spiking" the syringe in the Covid-19 end zone after a vaccine development touchdown?

Here's the "read"...
https://www.sciencemag.org/...-coronavirus-vaccine

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 11-04-2020).]

maryjane NOV 05, 06:37 AM
I don't know how they do things out in California, but everywhere else, the one reaching the 'endzone' first is the one that gets to 'spike the ball'.
That won't be Novamax.
rinselberg NOV 05, 09:20 PM
Be that as it may, I have an impulse to add this report, about a project to disrupt the venomous snakebite therapy industry with a new kind of antivenom that will rewrite the history of the game in a way that's seldom been seen. Think "Gayle Sayers" or "J.J. Watt." Yeah. They're looking for that kind of game-disrupting antivenom performance.

What is the connection between this novel antivenom project and the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine candidate that I used to "kick off" this Topic?

"Protein Engineering."

Just two words, but it has the impact of "Plastics"--to hearken back to 1967 and "The Graduate." That one word--"Plastics"--was so freighted with meaning that it entered the popular culture and led, among other things, to a 2010 New Yorker magazine essay; to wit:

"PLASTICS"
John Seabrook for the New Yorker; September 13, 2010.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/plastics

But back to the antivenom story, here are some snippets:

quote
A new approach of treating life-threatening snake bites responsible for around 100,000 deaths globally each year is being pioneered by an international research consortium led by University of Bristol scientists.


quote
This new project ... will use the innovative ADDomer© platform to design an antivenom virus-like particle (VLP) therapy of unparalleled clinical effectiveness. Importantly, unlike antivenom which must be refrigerated, this new therapy is being developed so it can be stored at room temperature. Rapid treatment can significantly improve a victim's chances of survival, this new advance would allow medication to be stored at local sites across the remote farming communities of sub-Saharan Africa where the disease is most prevalent.


quote
Applying cutting-edge analysis techniques the team ... will sequence the complex genetic make-up of venom from the most prevalent and poisonous Sub-Saharan snakes; the saw-scaled viper, the green mamba and related species.

Using protein engineering the team will develop their unique type of snakebite treatment that can bind and neutralise the pathogenic function of all toxins of these snakes irrespective of species or geography, and without adverse effect risk that can be implemented with cost-effective technologies and requiring less manufacturing logistics.


One thing that catches my eye is the advantage of a Covid-19 vaccine or in this case, a snakebite treatment or therapy, that doesn't incur the awkwardness and expense of specialized refrigeration logistics. That's disruptive. I compare it to the impact of the Forward Pass game innovation on American-style Football.

"New type of antivenom to reduce 100,000 fatalities each year from venomous snake bites"
University of Bristol; Eureka Alert!; AAAS; November 5, 2020.
https://www.eurekalert.org/...11/uob-nto110520.php


After a big play that transforms a "sleeper" into a "sitting on the edge of your seat" kind of contest, NFL game broadcaster Tony Romo has a penchant for enthusing "We've got a ball game!"

That's how I feel about these novel "plays" in the field of Protein Engineering. I see "game changers."

That's the potential. Of course, we can't forget this--the meme that conveys the most famous nine-word phrase in the history of the English language:

CLICK FOR FULL SIZE

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 11-05-2020).]

rinselberg NOV 06, 08:34 AM
STAT at statnews(.com) has a tabular presentation of many of the Covid-19 vaccine development projects and also pharmaceutical therapies or treatments for Covid-19.

The Novavax vaccine candidate is among them.

The most recent date that I see referenced in the table(s) is October 28.

STAT Covid-19 Drugs & Vaccines Tracker
https://www.statnews.com/fe...gs-vaccines-tracker/

File this under "Inside Pharma."

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 11-06-2020).]

williegoat NOV 06, 09:59 AM

quote
Originally posted by rinselberg:

Of course, we can't forget this--the meme that conveys the most famous nine-word phrase in the history of the English language:

CLICK FOR FULL SIZE




Cleopatra?
rinselberg NOV 06, 01:21 PM

quote
Originally posted by williegoat:
Cleopatra?


I was thinking of a different "nine word" phrase.

Legend has it that Cleopatra ended her life by clutching a venomous asp or "Egyptian cobra" to her--ahem--well, her something or other--but I think that's just legend.

The History Channel's Sarah Pruitt has said that it's far more likely that Cleopatra ended her life with a fatal concoction that she swallowed or even applied to her skin like an ointment.
https://www.history.com/new...a-suicide-snake-bite

Which creates a messaging connectivity link that originates from this utterance of "Cleopatra?" and terminates exactly three messages before this one, where I was "going on" about the Novel Antivenom development project for the treatment of venomous snakebites. Whether that's coincidence, or a connection that "williegoat" consciously wanted to create, I do not know. I do know that the first time that I posted that image of the female-looking opera singer, "williegoat" said it was "Barber's Cleopatra"--an operatic reference if ever there was one. And from as recent a year (from an operatic perspective) as 1966.

To wit.
williegoat NOV 06, 02:09 PM
So, the phrase is: "Asp, and she shall decease"?

regarding "the fat lady sings":
The point of the phrase, "It ain't over until the fat lady sings" is that Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" (aka The Ring Cycle) is 14 or 15 hours long. At the end of the last scene of the last part (Brunnhilde's immolation at the end of Gotterdammerung) Brunnhilde, Grane the opera and the world all finally come to a fiery end.

[This message has been edited by williegoat (edited 11-06-2020).]

Patrick NOV 06, 04:24 PM

quote
Originally posted by maryjane:

I don't know how they do things out in California...




quote
Originally posted by williegoat:

regarding "the fat lady sings"






It's now over.
williegoat NOV 06, 05:47 PM
You know, if Mama Cass had given that sandwich to Karen Carpenter, they'd both still be alive.
Patrick NOV 06, 06:54 PM

quote
Originally posted by williegoat:

You know, if Mama Cass had given that sandwich to Karen Carpenter, they'd both still be alive.



...

Ironic Tragedy Of Karen Carpenter & Mama Cass


quote

They were musical giants of the same era, the 70's and 80's. They both had angelic voices that charmed millions across the globe, but both were hounded to death in their early 30's by their weight, in a rather opposite way.