When Trump pushed hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, hundreds of thousands of prescriptions followed despite little evidence that it worked

When news reports tout a drug, people get interested, even if the benefits are unproven. Patient hopes, requests and demands can easily turn into real prescriptions in their doctor's office.

Richard L. Kravitz, Professor of Health Policy and Internal Medicine, University of California, Davis • conversation
July 9, 2020 • ~10 min

Coronavirus and cancer hijack the same parts in human cells to spread – and our team identified existing cancer drugs that could fight COVID-19

Kinases are cellular control switches. When they malfunction, they can cause cancer. The coronavirus hijacks these kinases to replicate, and cancer drugs that target them could fight COVID-19.

Nevan Krogan, Professor and Director of Quantitative Biosciences Institute & Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, University of California, San Francisco • conversation
June 28, 2020 • ~10 min

We found and tested 47 old drugs that might treat the coronavirus: Results show promising leads and a whole new way to fight COVID-19

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, identified nine existing drugs that show promise to treat COVID-19. The proteins they target haven't been tried before.

Nevan Krogan, Professor and Director of Quantitative Biosciences Institute & Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, University of California, San Francisco • conversation
April 30, 2020 • ~10 min

Coronavirus treatments: what drugs might work against COVID-19?

Coronavirus drug trials are underway – a virologist explains what the treatment options may be.

Connor Bamford, Research Fellow, Virology, Queen's University Belfast • conversation
April 16, 2020 • ~6 min

Coronavirus research done too fast is testing publishing safeguards, bad science is getting through

Researchers, scientific journals and health agencies are doing everything they can to speed up coronavirus research. The combination of pace and panic during this pandemic is causing mistakes.

Irving Steinberg, Dean for Faculty, USC School of Pharmacy; Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacy & Pediatrics, School of Pharmacy & Keck School of Medicine of USC; Director, Division of Pediatric Pharmacotherapy, Dept of Pediatrics, LAC+USC Med • conversation
April 9, 2020 • ~9 min

Medical supply chains are fragile in the best of times and COVID-19 will test their strength

Drug shortages occur regularly in the US, even in the best of times. The pharmaceutical supply chain embodies 'just in time' shipping and has little built-in redundancy.

Mark Daskin, Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan • conversation
March 25, 2020 • ~7 min

COVID-19 treatment might already exist in old drugs – we're using pieces of the coronavirus itself to find them

Among the more than 20,000 drugs approved by the FDA, there may be some that can treat COVID-19. A team at the University of California, San Francisco, is identifying possible candidates.

Nevan Krogan, Professor and Director of Quantitative Biosciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco • conversation
March 20, 2020 • ~8 min

/

6