Russian ex-policemen to face charges for planting drugs on journalist

22:07, January 29, 2020

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  Experimental drug for coronavirus to be tested in Wuhan

  (Photo: Xinhua)China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing will lead a clinical trial on the treatment of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) with the drug Remdesivir in Wuhan, Central Chinas Hubei Province, the hospital said in a statement on Sunday, bringing hope for the fight against the epidemic.The application for the three-phase trial has been accepted by Chinas Center for Drug Evaluation, and is scheduled to start on Monday, lasting through April 27. The new drug will be tested on 270 patients with mild or moderate coronavirus infections, domestic news portal thepaper.cn reported on Sunday.Remdesivir was developed by US-based biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. It was originally a drug developed for the Ebola virus and has completed phase one and two clinical trials abroad, according to media reports.Gilead Sciences said in a statement on Friday (US time) that the company is working with health authorities in China to establish a randomized, controlled trial to determine whether Remdesivir can safely and effectively be used to combat 2019-nCoV.Gilead has provided Remdesivir for use in a small number of patients with 2019-nCoV for emergency treatment in the absence of any approved treatment options.According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the clinical condition of an infected patient in the US was visibly improved after treatment with intravenous Remdesivir, and noted that randomized controlled trials are needed to determine the safety and efficacy of Remdesivir for treatment of patients with 2019-nCoV infection.If the clinical trials could achieve desirable progress, Remdesivir is expected to hit the market quickly, thepaper.cn reported.The Hubei Daily on Wednesday reported that there were three drugs with fairly good inhibitory effects on the novel coronavirus at the cellular level-Remdesivir, Chloroquine and Ritonavir.

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  Man says ex was ‘appalled’ after Weinstein meeting

  Lincoln Davies, a former boyfriend of accuser Dawn Dunning, leaves court after testifying in Harvey Weinsteins trial on charges of rape and sexual assault, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020 in New York. (Photo: AP)A fledgling actress came home “pretty shocked, upset, angry” and “kind of overall appalled” after a hotel room meeting where she says Harvey Weinstein offered her movie roles in exchange for three-way sex, her ex-boyfriend testified on Thursday at Weinstein’s New York City rape trial.Lincoln Davies, who was dating Dawn Dunning at the time in 2004, was called as a prosecution witness to bolster emotional testimony by Dunning and another aspiring actress on Wednesday accusing Weinstein of preying on their vulnerabilities while pushing the notion that sex could lead to stardom.Dunning also said Weinstein put his hand up her skirt and fondled her genitals a few weeks earlier that same year. But Davies said that she never told him about that.Also taking the witness stand was the manager of the celebrity hangout where Tarale Wulff, then a cocktail waitress, alleged that Weinstein masturbated in front of her on a secluded terrace. Maurizio Ferrigno testified he saw Weinstein and Wulff heading up a stairway, but conceded on cross-examination that prosecutors helped jog his memory of the moment, which Wulff says happened about 15 years ago.Jurors are also expected to hear Thursday about Weinstein’s efforts to keep his alleged behavior secret, including his use of a private intelligence company as reporters from The New York Times and The New Yorker pursued stories about him in 2017.The experiences of Dunning and Wulff, who also claims Weinstein raped her in his SoHo apartment in 2005, are not part of the underlying criminal charges against him, but their testimony could be a factor in whether he goes to prison at the end of his landmark #MeToo-era trial.Prosecutors called them as witnesses under a state law that allows testimony about so-called prior bad acts, enabling ...

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  FDA approves first peanut allergy drug for children

  WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Palforzia, the first drug treatment for peanut allergy for children aged four to 17 years old.File photo: CGTN"Palforzia provides an FDA-approved treatment option to help reduce the risk of these allergic reactions in children with peanut allergy," said Peter Marks, director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Those who take Palforzia must continue to avoid peanuts in their diets.Peanut allergy affects approximately one million children in the United States and only one out of five of these children will outgrow their allergy.Palforzia is a powder manufactured from peanuts and packaged in pull-apart capsules and a sachet.The powder is mixed with a small amount of semisolid food like yogurt, according to the FDA.Palforzia is priced it at 890 U.S. dollars per month.