Like some of the many discussants on the thread you cited, we can agree the case report is interesting, but it is one case. In response to the objection that the report is anecdotal , a few others noted that there were other successful individual case reports as well. Still other contributors implied that FDA is corrupt, because it won’t approve drugs like this with a few scattered reports of success, which by the way we don’t really know were successes. It could as well be the case that those patients who were receiving other treatment modalities would have recovered anyway. That is the problem. The FDA is bound to consider only data that arise from a controlled trial which is conducted according to a study plan that is submitted to FDA and approved by FDA prior to the start of the study. Furthermore there have to be safety precautions in place, and there has to be an independent data monitoring board that reviews adverse events and makes final judgment on clinical outcome. Apparently the company that makes this drug did submit some study data to FDA, and on the basis of those data, FDA did not see fit to issue an EUA. This drug was originally formulated and developed for treatment of HIV, because it blocks the CCR5 receptor on T lymphocytes which is an auxiliary receptor for HIV. I guess it could be useful in Covid because of possible activity in inhibiting cytokine storm via its putative effect on the immune response. Several other drugs with similar rationales for their use have been tried in late stage, severe cases of Covid, and some of them do show a modest benefit. But the operative word is modest. None of them is a magic bullet. None of them is even any better than dexamethasone, which is current standard of care. Certainly the CCR5 receptor has no biological role in the pathogenesis of Covid. So I am dubious that this drug will ever be a major success in this particular application.
