This is now the third anti-viral therapy to disappoint us within a few weeks (preliminary data on lopinavir/ritonavir and remdesivir were both unimpressive). This raises a question of whether any anti-viral therapies will be beneficial. Especially among the critically ill, patients often present relatively late (at a time-point when viral load is already falling anyway). Much of the pathogenesis of critical illness seems to result from dysregulated inflammation, rather than direct viral cytopathic effect. This raises a question of whether any antiviral treatment will be beneficial for late-presenting patients with severe illness.
Well there must be a way to attack this dysregulated inflammation.
I had to take my 19-year-old kitty to the vet yesterday, and we had an interesting talk about coronaviruses. They are extremely common in the animal world. And there is one feline virus in particular that acts in a similar fashion with the extreme inflammation. But rather than attacking the lungs, it attacks the peritoneum. The disease is called FIP, feline infectious peritonitis. He mentioned that there was a vaccine made but did not stay on the market since it was not very effective. The risk was higher than the benefit.
https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/feline-infectious-peritonitis