A: What a confusing jumble! We Nerdy Girls like to keep the following phrase in mind: TREATMENT TIMING MATTERS. Different treatments target different points in the disease course, as helpfully demonstrated in these figures.
Punchline: We’ll need an entire bag of treatment tricks to beat this devilishly nasty disease.
A little more context:
First we all paid apt attention to the promising clinical trial results for the anti-viral Remedesivir (see early DP post), and more recently we’ve all tuned into the headlines about the role of steroids in reducing COVID mortality (link to related DP post). Not to mention the ongoing hydroxychloroquine brouhaha (you guessed it – link to yet another related DP post 
). We’re sure to experience an ongoing staccato of similar press releases as the science continues to progress.
How do we organize our thinking and understanding of what’s going on? One helpful tip: Keep in mind that TIMING MATTERS. As the infographic below demonstrates, different treatments target different “mechanisms of action” corresponding to specific points in the disease course. So the key question isn’t “does a treatment work?” but rather “at this point in the disease course, what treatment works?” For example, there are points (early) in the disease course when suppressing the body’s natural immune response is a very bad idea, but later on in the disease course may very well save a patient’s life.
Stat News has a terrific tracker with up-to-date information on new treatments in clinical trials. The tool provides a great overview description of each treatment’s mechanism of action, along with notes and status updates.
And never fear, the Nerdy Girls are here to help you surf the continued headline craziness!
