Far from giving up after more than a year, John McMichael is inching towards getting his COVID cure to the public.
But the process for the Town of Wright scientist’s product has been maddeningly slow, with delays in analysis and funding.
Since March 2020, Mr. McMichael has been trying to get his COVID treatment, TML, approved by the government. Physicians in his nationwide Beech Tree Labs found TML to be effective in treating COVID, but government approval is necessary for a wider audience.
Even though there are more people getting vaccinated, there’s a sizable number who won’t be, so TML could be a major breakthrough for them. Also, other countries may not have the same access to vaccines as the US, so it has potential elsewhere, Mr. McMichael pointed out.
“There’s a lot of interest,” he said. “In spite of the vaccine, there’s still a need for it. Nothing else out there is effective.”
Despite the slow progress, there’s been one advance. The first trial or test of TML is finished, with a group of COVID patients receiving the product and another group getting placebos.
Now comes analysis of patient data: temperature readings, coughs per hour and per day, oxygen percentage in the blood and more “to determine if TML did better than the placebo,” Mr. McMichael said.
Although the data analysis will be done, Mr. McMichael said he’s run out of money presently. He budgeted $400,000 for the project and bills total $900,000.
Mr. McMichael said he “hasn’t a hint” how the data analysis will turn out, but he expects TML to pass the test.
“Doctors have given it to several hundred patients, and the vast majority came out okay,” he said.
“We’d like to see that reflected in the trial analysis.”
Depending on what the data analysis shows, there’s likely to be a larger test, though Mr. McMichael will talk to larger companies and the government to see whether they’ll do it.
“They have more resources than we do,” he said.
Mr. McMichael developed TML about 20 years ago as a successful treatment for herpes and influenza viruses.
He’s sent hundreds of vials to Beech Tree Labs doctors, who found that it’s successful in treating COVID in four to 48 hours.