W.H.O. confirms that cheap steroids reduce Covid deaths 36%, page-14

Most of the eligibility criteria above are in line with at least the "moderate ARDS" eligibility criteria in the Mesoblast study, no? from the MSB trial deisn:

• Patient requiring mechanical ventilatory support with moderate to severe ARDS as determined by the following criteria (adapted from the Berlin criteria)

  • Bilateral opacities must be present on a chest radiograph or computed tomographic (CT) scan. These opacities are not fully explained by pleural effusions, lobar collapse, lung collapse, or pulmonary nodules.
  • Respiratory failure not fully explained by cardiac failure or fluid overload.
  • Moderate to severe impairment of oxygenation must be present, as defined by the ratio of arterial oxygen tension to fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2). The severity of the hypoxemia defines the severity of the ARDS:
• Moderate ARDS: PaO2/FiO2 >100 mmHg and ≤200 mmHg, on ventilator settings that include PEEP ≥5 cm H2O OR
• Severe ARDS: PaO2/FiO2 ≤100 mmHg on ventilator settings that include PEEP ≥5 cm H2O

@hotplutonium I'm not sure, but I was nervous for the posters yesterday discussing call options. I have a much higher degree of confidence that the trial will result in efficacy than I do about anything in regards to timing of results. Small variations in the mortality rate of the control group have a large effect on how many patients have to be observed to achieve statistical significance, so things like this that can improve current highest SOC would possibly reduce the observed effect of the treatment, so whereas you may have had overwhelming efficacy at 30%, as treatment improves you may only get that result at 45 or 60% stopping points, or even just a good result at the end of the trial. If Mesoblast "only" achieves a positive result at the end of the trial it will still be very profitable for the company and great for the world, just 2-3 months later than it would be if they halt at the first or second readout.