Vinod Khosla

Factual · Biosecurity

“It also suggests 10-plus potential treatments, many of which are already FDA approved.”

Vinod Khosla, on X · 4 September 2020 · Post by @vkhosla on X, 2020-09-04 (X)

The bradykinin hypothesis for Covid-19 suggests 10-plus potential treatments, many of which are already FDA approved.

Mostly true True in substance, wrong in a detail.

The second judge would not resolve this claim; the verdict shown is the first judge's.

What would count as true or false

Judge as of September 2020 against the bradykinin hypothesis literature (Garvin et al., eLife 2020) and the coverage of it at the time. True: these sources set out about ten or more candidate treatments, and many of them (several, not just one or two) were drugs already approved by the FDA, for any indication. Mostly true: the count was slightly under ten (about 7–9), or only a few of the candidates were FDA approved. Mixed: the hypothesis named only a handful of treatments, with some approved. Mostly false: it named only a few candidates and at most one approved drug. False: it proposed no specific treatments, or none of the named ones was FDA approved.

Evidence

1. A mechanistic model and therapeutic interventions for COVID-19 involving a RAS-mediated bradykinin storm eLife (via PubMed Central) · 7 July 2020

   “Several interventional points (most of them already FDA-approved pharmaceuticals) could be explored with the goal of increasing ACE, decreasing BK, or blocking BK2 receptors (Table 1).”

2. A mechanistic model and therapeutic interventions for COVID-19 involving a RAS-mediated bradykinin storm eLife (via PubMed Central) · 7 July 2020

   “Hymecromone (4-methylumbelliferone) is approved for use in Asia and Europe for the treatment of biliary spasm.”

3. Bradykinin Hypothesis: Potential Explanation for COVID-19 Pharmaceutical Intelligence (Aviva Lev-Ari) · 8 September 2020

   “repurpose existing FDA approved drugs such as Danazol, Stanasolol, Icatibant, Ecallantide, Berinert, Cynryze, Haegarda, etc..”

Reasoning

The Garvin et al. eLife paper proposes several intervention points, "most of them already FDA-approved pharmaceuticals" (E1). It also names hymecromone, which it describes as approved for use in Asia and Europe, without saying whether it is FDA approved (E2). Coverage from September 2020 lists seven named drugs it calls FDA approved, followed by "etc." (E3). Together these show at least eight named candidates, many of them FDA approved. The quoted evidence does not confirm ten or more, because the paper's Table 1 is not in the fetched text, so the count is only shown in the 7–9 range.

Cite this claim

Vinod Khosla, “The bradykinin hypothesis for Covid-19 suggests 10-plus potential treatments, many of which are already FDA approved.” (said 4 September 2020). Verdict: mostly true. Reliability API, claim c_95e1d691387f, method 0.1.0+c876030c. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_95e1d691387f