Silenced Solutions: The Importance of COVID-19 Therapeutics and the Fight Against Suppression

Abstract

COVID-19 disease is caused by the Betacoronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. This virus gave rise to 676 million confirmed cases with 6.9 million deaths worldwide by early 2023. After first appearing in Wuhan, China in late 2019, the virus has mutated into seven successive major forms with progressive increases in infectivity: Alpha, Beta, Delta, Omicron, and Omicron variants BA.4, BA.5, and XBB.1.5. Liposomal mRNA vaccines have been developed against SARS-CoV-2. Many of these received Emergency-use Authorization, and all have been highly promoted by civil authorities and the media. On the other hand, therapeutics against COVID-19 have been developed, but some of these have been severely suppressed, even by reliance on retracted papers. Our laboratory found that chlorpheniramine maleate, an over-the- counter antihistamine, was active against the Coronavirus through drug-database searches, molecular modeling, and a preliminary retrospective clinical-study. The manuscript that described this work was rejected by several journal editors without peer review, thus providing further direct evidence for suppression of small-molecule therapeutics. Epidemiologic study of death statistics in the VAERS database showed that 19,710 people lost their lives after COVID-19 vaccination; mortality from all other common vaccines does not sum to even 20% of this staggering value. The vaccine has also been responsible for significant morbidity. A consensus has begun to develop among physicians and scientists that COVID-19 disease and vaccination both result in chronic symptoms in many people, now called “Long COVID” or “Long-hauler’s syndrome”. Thus, vaccination does not appear to be a reasonable approach to combat COVID-19 disease. In view of this, development, testing, and approval or repurposing of therapeutics is imperative, especially as we observe recent increases in mortality due to COVID-19 Omicron XBB.1.5. Chlorpheniramine maleate, an over-the-counter medication, is uniquely positioned to serve as a broad-spectrum antiviral against SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in this post- pandemic age.