The drug baricitinib (a type of drug known as a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor, also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis) is strongly recommended for patients with severe or critical COVID-19 in combination with corticosteroids, says a WHO Guideline Development Group of international experts in The BMJ.

A research team led by Prof. Stephan Ludwig, a virologist at the Institute of Virology at the University of Münster, has found a new dual attack mode of action while working on the development of a drug candidate against SARS-CoV-2 infections. This could constitute the basis for a broadly effective drug to fight COVID 19.

The Omicron variant was detected for the first time in South Africa in November 2021 and has since spread to many countries. It is expected to become the dominant variant within a few weeks or months. Initial epidemiological studies show that the Omicron variant is more transmissible than the currently dominant virus (the Delta variant). It is capable of spreading to individuals who have received two vaccine doses and to previously infected individuals.

Infection with the virus that causes COVID-19 can trigger an immune response that lasts well beyond the initial infection and recovery - even among people who had mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, according to Cedars-Sinai investigators. The findings are published in the Journal of Translational Medicine.

An international team of scientists has created a plan for an accelerated pipeline for developing drug cocktails to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. The pipeline could speed new and better treatments that the newly diagnosed and recently exposed could take at home to prevent serious illness.

An international team of scientists have identified antibodies that neutralize omicron and other SARS-CoV-2 variants. These antibodies target areas of the virus spike protein that remain essentially unchanged as the viruses mutate.

By identifying the targets of these "broadly neutralizing" antibodies on the spike protein, it might be possible to design vaccines and antibody treatments that will be effective against not only the omicron variant but other variants that may emerge in the future,

Dementia is thought to occur when proteins called amyloid-β, tau, and α-synuclein accumulate in the brain and form oligomers. A research group from the Department of Translational Neuroscience, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, had previously shown in a study using mice that the antibiotic rifampicin removes oligomers from the brain and improves cognitive function. However, the drug has been associated with side effects such as liver damage.