Pandemia Covid-19 began five years ago, all right away. Treatments were done quickly … [+]
Five years ago, the Covid-19 Pandemia seemed to start all immediately. It officially began with a statement from the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Within days, schools and restaurants were closed. The number of deaths continued to increase. Hospitals were overloaded. Our world had changed.
But medical advances seemed to all happen immediately, too. Just seven months after the Pandemic Declaration, an antiviral that helped reduce the severity of the illness and death became available. Two months after that, the highly effective and secure MRNA vaccines became available. However, these advances did not all happen immediately. Their rapid development was possible due to basic research, often funded by the federation, which had continued for decades.
With the cuts of the funds proposed by President Trump, this basic research is in danger. If another pandemic occurs, we may not be able to respond at the speed of decay.
To fully explore the importance of fundamental research funded by the Federation, let’s look at Remdesivir’s story. The FDA approved this antiviral complex for the treatment of Covid-19 on October 22, 2020. Mark Denison, director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbil University Medical Center, contributed to the development of Remdesivir and another Covid-19 drug, Molnupiravir. But he did not start with that purpose in mind.
Denison has studied coronaviruses for four decades. In a recent conversation, he noted that his work in Remdesivir began with a very different purpose, investigating the role of the coronavirus’s exon protein. Described as “strange” by Dr. Denison, exon functions as an enzyme of correction. It allows the virus to fix the errors that occur during the replication, a property that is not separated by many other viruses.
Dr. Denison wanted to learn more about how this enzyme contributed to the coronavirus replication. “I have researched the coronaviruses for 40 years. I’m interested in how they work, “he said. In retrospect, his approach seems directly.” We wanted to find a complex that prevented this enzyme. Then we showed that this composition impeded viral repetition in cell culture and infection in animals. Finally, we showed that it was effective in humans. “
This work was not initiated in response to the Pandemic Covid-19. Studies were mainly conducted to investigate interesting questions about the biology of the coronavirus. As Dr. Denison, “Finding antivirals was not my career choice.”
The development of MRNA vaccines is another example of the value of basic research. Drs. Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman received 2023 Nobel Nobility in Physiology or Medicine For their seminal work leading to the development of Covid-19 vaccines. As noted in Nobel Price Print Notice“Vaccines have saved millions of lives … allowing societies to open and return to normal conditions.”
Mimi, however, was not for the current development of vaccines. Karikó and Weissman were recognized for basic research in our immune response to MRNA and an atypical component of RNA called pseudouridine. They were recognized for the work done over 15 years ago, long before the pandemia began. And the story certainly didn’t start with them. Work by numerous scholars for topics such as RNA synthesis and RNA distribution in cells preceded their work, thereby setting the phase.
Science is a repetitive process. And often, as shown by the work of DRS. Denison, Karikó and Weissman, the end result is not even a consideration when the work begins.
Basic research that eventually led to the development of Remdesivir, Molnupiravir, MRNA vaccines and other Covid-19 treatments were mainly funded by national health institutes. With a budget of about $ 48 billion, institutes support over 300,000 researchers on over 2,500 institutions, according to NIH website.
The results of this funding are extraordinary. Over 170 scientists employed or funded by NIH are Nobel Prize recipients, including Karikó and Weissman. Other other scholars use this federal fund to make small but important scientific advances. Most likely, many are mainly motivated by curiosity. They investigate numerous biological systems because, as Dr. Denison, they are “interested in how they work”.
Recent proposals to reduce funds in NIH can disrupt this basic research. In February, the Trump administration proposed a drastic landing of indirect costs is associated with its grants. These upper costs help institutions maintain important services, such as animal care institutions. The loss of these funds can be devastating and adversely affecting basic research that takes place in universities and medical schools across the country.
Today Over 7 million people globally and 1.2 million people in the United States have died as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Seventeen million adults in the SH.BA may have long time, According to KFF. Yes, our world has changed radically. But it could be worse. Next time, it may be.