• 3 Posts
  • 23 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: June 29th, 2023
  • akai@kbin.socialtoEurope@feddit.de•Cyprus begins treating island’s sick cats with anti-Covid pills
    2·
    1 year ago

    Coronavirus is just a family of viruses. From what I understand, about 80-85% of cats have FeCov and most present mild symptoms like a runny nose. In about 0.5% of those infected, the virus will mutate and cause FIP. About 6 years ago, that would have been a death sentence as the death rate of FIP is 100%.

    Gilead was working on a treatment and had one that was promising. They had started the process of getting it approved. But then the pandemic hit and they stopped all work. Since COVID is caused by a virus in the same family, they pivoted their research and eventually produced Remdesivir, which is an effective antiviral treatment for humans.

    That also decided not to continue with the feline treatment because humans could technically use that instead of Remdesivir and Gilead would make less money.

  • akai@kbin.socialtoEurope@feddit.de•Cyprus begins treating island’s sick cats with anti-Covid pills
    15·
    1 year ago

    My cat had FIP and because the treatment isn’t medically approved, my vet couldn’t even really talk about it, let alone prescribe a treatment, since it could put her license at risk. But she gave me enough hints so that I could do my own research.

    There are groups out there that help cats with FIP. I was able to get the needed medication and treat my cat. It’s been 6 months now since he’s been cured and I’m so happy I was able to save his life.

    The medication is called GS-441524 and is similar to Remdesivir. Gilead refuses to get GS-44 certified for vet use because it’s so close to Remdesivir that humans could use it to treat COVID at a lower cost. Fuck big pharma and their greed.