SATURDAY 1 AUGUST
Today was wild enough. Roche rang early (on a Saturday! Still, what else would they be doing?) to say they had all the safety data, but that they needed to do one last check.
SUNDAY 2 AUGUST
Good chat with Manus on the phone today. Inflazome doesn’t do weekends. Roche have said they are happy. Might the deal happen?
We drove to Roche’s Point in Cork. Been going there for years with the kids, to Desiree’s house, which is near the lighthouse. It’s a great spot and the kids have always loved it. Towed the boat down without too much trouble. Marg is such a good driver. Good job, seeing that I can’t drive …
Our friends Duncan and Vivienne had a BBQ for us on arrival. It was a lovely summer’s evening. Roche’s Point is idyllic enough, it has to be said. Right on the sea, and you can watch the big ships come in and go out. No cruise ships this year, of course – another COVID casualty. I tried hard not to think about COVID-19 or Inflazome. Some gin and tonics and a bottle of wine helped.
Couldn’t sleep, though. Did some binge-watching of various news channels. Europe is on the move. Everyone seems to be going on holidays. Greek islands, Spanish beaches and French vineyards are full of tourists. This can’t end well – I mean, the virus is still out there, for crying out loud. Don’t they know? This could well turn into another nightmare, and I can’t help but think it will.
MONDAY 3 AUGUST
And so, the holidays begin. Sore head. Chatting with people on the street. Hearing ‘You’re famous now!’ unnerves me slightly. We dropped a heavy anchor as a mooring for the boat, then towed it to Aghada Pier to launch it. Stevie and I drove it back over to the Point and moored it. Job well done and there it is now, bobbing away with the other boats. Had a guitar session with Sam and then played poker. I won a big hand to everyone’s surprise, including me. Well, of counters, not money – but still!
The publicans are asking for a special compensation package if pubs can’t reopen on 10 August. This is another industry that has been hugely hit by COVID-19 and they are being especially restricted, so this is surely justified.
TUESDAY 4 AUGUST
Into Cork city by boat for Newstalk. Took about an hour, and what a lovely journey. Some contrast to getting the Dart into Pearse Street and walking up to the Newstalk studios through Dublin city centre! Misty morning fog. Past Cobh, around Spike Island and Haulbowline. Past Monkstown then across Lough Mahon to the banks of the Lee. Right into the centre of Cork like an arrow. Great being on the water.
With Jonathan in Republic of Work, where Newstalk has its studio. He said to watch out for the haters, that it could get inside my head. Good advice.
Lots to talk about today. Another vaccine is on the horizon, this time made by Sanofi and my old friends in GlaxoSmithKline. The big ‘recovery’ trial in the UK was also a hot topic. This is a therapy trial for severely ill patients. It has already come up with dexamethasone. But hydroxychloroquine had no effect. This trial is more believable, as it is double-blind placebo-controlled, which means that neither the patient nor the person running the trial knows who is getting the active drug or the placebo. It’s the correct way to do a trial.
On our way back we had some porridge in a quayside café, having missed breakfast. Delicious! We dropped into Cobh on the way back and had a drink in the Quayside Bar. Two pints in the sun. Then zipped back over to the Point.
Watched the Channel 4 documentary on COVID-19 – I was interviewed for it a month or so ago. ‘There you are on Channel 4!’ said the neighbours. It was dramatic stuff – done as a timeline from the start. Very informative and disturbing. Depicted really well how it took off in the UK and how the death rate just climbed and climbed.
Disappointingly, but understandably, saw on the news that the government won’t be allowing any further easing on 10 August. Pubs will stay closed. They’re removing countries from the Green List. The limit of 50 people indoors will remain. So much for the hope of bigger weddings that many were aiming for.
WEDNESDAY 5 AUGUST
Still waiting for word from Inflazome. Matt Cooper, the CEO, left a message to say that the head of research had signed off on the deal. Can it be true?!
Good old holiday singsong around Dave’s campfire. Dave is a great pal in Roche’s Point, who is, as he says himself, ‘pathologically sociable’. Stevie and Sam played ‘Ooh La La’ by The Faces together. My two lads, now grown men! Memories of them as little boys on holidays here. And there they are now.
THURSDAY 6 AUGUST
Into Cork again by boat with Dave and Duncan. Very misty and atmospheric on the water. Couldn’t go at top speed because of the fog. Appropriately enough, in the afternoon did a conference call with the UK Maritime Insurance Association. I did an overview of COVID-19. They spoke about how the cruise industry is devastated. All ships are waiting in various parts of the world. Loads of people laid off. Shipping industry in big trouble, which in turn threatens the maritime insurers.
Manus texted a one-liner: Deal nearly signed. Good this is all happening with me down here with plenty of distractions.
FRIDAY 7 AUGUST
02.39 (note the time): Manus texted to say the signing had begun! Not a hope of sleep. Two last signatures were needed and then €380 million will be paid upfront in cash. This will be one of the biggest biotech deals in Europe this year – and for a little Irish company!
Gill tweeted today about my new book coming out in the autumn – first sight of it.
The Taoiseach said today that Kildare, Laois and Offaly are to go into more stringent lockdown because of case numbers there. This may actually be a sensible way forward – localised lockdowns. Let’s see how it goes. People are giving out, but it makes sense.
18.35: Manus and Matt texted: DEAL SIGNED! Then they called. We were all almost in tears. Congrats all round. I just can’t quite believe it. I was actually in the car when the news came through and I pounded the roof, just like The Dude did in The Big Lebowski. And then I put on ‘Lily the Pink’ – seems tremendously apt. Have we invented a highly efficacious medicinal compound? We’ll find out!
My thoughts immediately turned to all my mentors: Charles Dinarello, Jerry Saklatvala and also Jürg Tschopp, the Swiss scientist who actually discovered NLRP3, the target for our drug.
MONDAY 10 AUGUST
Last few days were a bit of a blur, to be honest. We drove to Wineport Lodge near Athlone, to my old college friend Jane’s hotel, to help launch a boat built over the winter by friends Tony, Garrett and Michael.
My old friend Cormac Kilty, who is a stalwart of the Irish biotech sector, said, don’t believe it until the cash lands in your bank account. We’re sworn to secrecy, as the deal now has to go through a process involving the monopolies commission in the US. This is a huge punishment of course, as I am BURSTING to tell people in the lab and former lab members who were critical to it all – Rebecca, who played a blinder on our key publication, and Seth, who brought NLRP3 to my lab and did some essential experiments.
I just have to banish it from my mind. It’s hard though, as this is about my life’s work. And the possible benefit for patients! It seems crazy, and yet that’s what the science tells us.
Meanwhile, back at Roche’s Point, Stevie’s friend Ben turned up. He is the image of Jimmy Crowley, which is handy in Cork.
If you’re caught without a mask in shops, hairdressers and the like, you can be fined up to €2,500 or face six months in jail. Some turnaround! This should work and is exactly what I want. Masks protect us, simple as that, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong.
I’ve just about stopped thinking about Inflazome. Now slipping into holiday mode. Days coalesce. Gave a Zoom talk at the Gasyard Wall Féile, a festival founded by a dear old friend, Stephen Connelly, who died tragically young of cancer. Usual range of COVID-19-related questions.
Can’t stay away from the COVID-19 news, though. Putin announced today that the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V, is now available for the general public. He said he’d given it to his daughter. This vaccine looks pretty traditional. It has adenoviral vectors to deliver the gene for the spike protein, so it’s a bit like others – AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, whereas the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are quite different, being built from RNA. All of them make the spike protein, one way or another. Sputnik V might well work, but yet again an unusual approach, as normally it would go through a Phase 3 trial first. We’ll see. So now there are two vaccines in widespread use, Sputnik and Sinovac. Those Russians and Chinese don’t mess around.
WEDNESDAY 12 AUGUST
Well now, today was a special day. About a month ago I was asked to film with John Creedon in Ballinspittle for his RTÉ show on place names. So this morning we got the boat over to the Old Head of Kinsale. Marg, Stevie, Vivienne, Duncan and Dave. It was one of those days where the sea was like glass, sun beaming down. A rarity in Irish waters. So gorgeous, like a blue-and-white dream.
Tied off at a lovely little harbour. Rita from the production team picked us up and we drove over to a house in Ballinspittle for lunch. Ardal O’Hanlon was there and had been filming at the statue, famous once upon a time for moving. The nice local man who owned the house told us about how at the peak of the moving-statue craze there would be loads of coaches parked around Ballinspittle.
After lunch we set to work. My job was to talk about a so-called chalybeate well. These are wells whose waters have healing properties because they are rich in various minerals. The name Ballinspittle actually derives from Baile an Ospideal (town of the hospital) because it had at least two healing wells. Tunbridge Wells is a famous chalybeate well in England.
A local historian had found the chalybeate well on the grounds of an old manor house, where in the 1800s the gentry would take the waters. It had gone into disrepair but had been renovated. We walked deep into a lovely forest and stood around the well as a drone filmed us and I explained away. The waters are rich in the health-promoting minerals, which are indeed good for your skin, and the water itself would be excellent for digestion, a bit like Andrews Liver Salts. In times gone by, a major benefit was just hygiene. The analysis did, however, show a bit of E. coli, which is found in sewage. The well is far from any sewage system, so this was most likely from animals getting into the water and leaving droppings. A small amount of E. coli is good for you (depending on the strain!), bringing benefits to your immune system. John asked me would I drink it and I looked at the data sheet and said, ‘Not today!’ They gave me a lovely old glass bottle to take a sample of the water from the well, and even put a camera underwater to film! I haven’t had so much fun in a long time.
And I have to say there was something magical about the forest. Deep green. Dappled sun. And the whole thing resonated with Inflazome. The ancients needed treatment for ailments as well. Who knows, maybe that water has an NLRP3 inhibitor in it too?
Once filming was over, we went back to the harbour. Dave and Duncan were sitting outside in the evening sun having pints. I joined them and we had another. Someone came over to our table, apologising. She thanked me for keeping her sane during lockdown. We left the pub and headed back to the boat, scooting back over to Roche’s Point in no time.
As Lou Reed famously sang, ‘such a perfect day’. They come all too rarely, and even more so in these times. Got to make the most of it.
THURSDAY 13 AUGUST
Somehow, we’re all hoping COVID-19 might be almost gone by winter. But like other respiratory viruses, it likes dry air. It spreads most of all indoors, which is another reason why winter is a worry, as we all move inside. Our upper airways dry out and the virus can get a foothold. We’ll be under pressure if there is still a lot of the virus around. Makes the public health measures and testing-trace-isolate all the more important.
A gang of us headed over to Bunnyconnellan’s restaurant in the boats. A little armada. Anchored off and got in by dinghy. Love doing that kind of thing. Great to be eating out! Headed back for two episodes of The Wire with Stevie. It’s one of those things – you hear a huge number of good things about a film or TV show, watch it and think, it’s not that good. I couldn’t understand some of the dialogue – a sure sign of the descent into middle age! Or not – Stevie couldn’t either.
The government announced that they are moving from phases of reopening to a colour-coded system. Yet another system. Chopping and changing.
Had a good think in bed this morning. This is why holidays are so important. Your brain can go to a different place. It takes a few days to clear out all the thoughts that you carry from your pre-holiday life. You can order them, maybe see things differently.
There are four things I want to keep doing workwise: 1. The lab – all the science, data, contribution to COVID-19, but not to forget the other diseases we are interested in; 2. Students/postdocs – still love helping them. I’m an academic after all; 3. New medicines – keep working on that: Inflazome, Sitryx, other companies; 4. Communication in all its forms: lectures, talks, books. Really enjoy that.
Over to Dave’s place in the evening. Traditional announcing of the winner of the annual Roche’s Point golf open. Dave gave his usual rendition of ‘Seaside Golf’ by John Betjeman: ‘How long it flew, how straight it flew, it cleared the rutty track.’ Even I know it off by heart. Simple things are more important than ever. Then we had a good old singsong and Caitlin, Dave’s daughter, sang a wonderful version of ‘Sunny Afternoon’.
It all reminded me of when I was a child and the grown-ups would come back from the pub and have a singsong. I was allowed to stay up for it from when I was about 12 and I’d watch them doing their party pieces. Didn’t know they were all pissed, mind! My dad always sang ‘My brother Sylvest’, while my mother would sing Judy Garland numbers. They performed with such passion. My Uncle Tommy used to sing ‘The Sheik of Araby’, with my dad saying ‘With no pants on’ after every line:
Tommy: ‘I’m the Sheik of Araby’
My dad: ‘With no pants on’
Tommy: ‘Your love belongs to me’
My dad: ‘With no pants on’
Tommy: ‘At night when you’re asleep’
My dad: ‘With no pants on’
Tommy: ‘Into your tent I’ll creep’
My dad: ‘With no pants on’
I remember that so vividly, partly because everyone just cracked up, and also because I knew that it was a bit risqué. Yet again, funny how when you’re on holidays your mind can open up.
SUNDAY 16 AUGUST
To round off the holiday we watched three episodes of Breaking Bad. Just superb! At least I’m not like Heisenberg, who lost out on millions from the company he founded!
There is often a baby boom after a pandemic. Will this happen post-COVID-19? Wouldn’t that in its own way be something marvellous?
Got a lovely card today from Joe Duffy. Nice of him to write.
I notice that several universities have moved their courses online. Doesn’t bode well. We’d better get ready for all teaching being online.
TUESDAY 18 AUGUST
Signed share certificates for Inflazome in my capacity as director. Still feels like a bit of a dream. Can’t talk to anyone about it, either, although I hinted to the lab that something was afoot. I would just love to tell them all.
Gave another talk as part of the ‘Provost’s Salon’ series. Lots of people joined. Most notably Lord David Puttnam, who asked some interesting questions. (I didn’t tell him Stevie was going to Caius just like Harold Abrahams in his movie, Chariots of Fire.) These salons seem to go very well, and people are very appreciative of my sharing my knowledge. Sure, what else would I be doing?
WEDNESDAY 19 AUGUST
One thing that perturbed me on holidays was the need to recruit new people. I knew this would be a key task on my return. So this is a new mission. Interviewed a possible new PhD student – Shane O’Carroll. He did his first degree in UCC and had just completed our MSc in immunology. He was good! Will check out his references.
Also had a call with our Dutch collaborators. They will now test if itaconate can prevent SARS-CoV2 from replicating. We know it can save the infected lung cells from dying, but it might also kill the virus.
Meanwhile, things are definitely going pear-shaped again with COVID-19. And we were looking so good with the numbers. But they are now going up again, and not just in Ireland. All over Europe. We had almost got rid of the damn virus. But the number of cases and hospital admissions don’t lie. Outdoor events now limited to 15 people. Indoor to six people. Everyone to work from home again. Oh Lord, here we go again.
THURSDAY 20 AUGUST
Eli Lilly’s antibody cocktail trials are showing that it is indeed effective for hospital patients and might even protect from infection. A trial is now running in care homes in the US to see if that’s the case. Antibodies might well have an important role to play in the treatment of COVID-19, and this trial gives more hope.
There was also more evidence that reinfection might be possible. It struck me: will we ever be free of it? I didn’t want to say that on Newstalk.
FRIDAY 21 AUGUST
Stevie came in for lunch. We went to the Lombard pub and talked about Inflazome. Feels like we’re in limbo.
Laois and Offaly have been released from strict lockdown. This is good, but I can’t help but wonder if the whole country will be put into lockdown soon, the way the numbers are looking.
SUNDAY 23 AUGUST
Drinks in Brian’s garden last night. Colm came too and played recordings of some of the songs he’s been learning. Wouldn’t it be good to get a new setlist for The Metabollix, should we ever get to play again?
Took it easy today. Went to see Desiree. She was able to come outside onto the patio but said it was too cold. So it wasn’t a long visit, but it was lovely seeing her. Walking home via the seafront in Dún Laoghaire and yet again experienced that weird feeling of people calling my name. One woman asked for a selfie for her mother! Delighted to oblige.
Survey of teens in the US shows that 71 per cent are reporting stress and anxiety – and why wouldn’t they? Sweden again saying if the death toll in other countries catches up, they will have got it right, as they won’t have wrecked people’s lives with lockdown. It’s not a competition, for God’s sake.
TUESDAY 25 AUGUST
Had a wobble on waking. Happens sometimes. My life has changed in oh so many ways. Big one is no travel. Definitely missing that. Then the demands of the media. Could always say no. What sustains me is Inflazome deal and also the new book coming out. So I got out of bed and into the shower and the glums lifted a bit.
Another worrying piece of news today on COVID-19. Definite evidence of reinfection. They knew this because it was a different strain to the first one. Yet again, good Lord.
I bet it will be like other biological traits. Some will never get reinfected, some will and will get ill, and others might get reinfected but will have a mild disease. We can live with that. Science isn’t black or white. And in biology, things are often grey. The normal distribution. And this will be no different. The trick will be to explain that to people.
Another recruitment interview. I feel like Yul Brynner, recruiting the Magnificent Seven. The new team is shaping up very nicely.
More worrying news – 22 people have tested positive in a meat-processing plant in Tipperary. Yet again, the unfairness of it all. There is now a justifiable spotlight on working conditions in meat factories. One minor but important benefit from this might be improvements for people working in those places and living in crappy accommodation.
THURSDAY 27 AUGUST
Some day! On the Dart at 7.45 a.m. Eerily quiet. In the Newstalk studios we discussed how llamas and camels are a rich source of antibodies for COVID-19. They have unusual single-chain antibodies that are easier to make. Yet another option in the biggest biomedical fight in years.
Prime Time with Miriam O’Callaghan. We were chatting away and having a bit of a laugh and then she said ‘Right, let’s get serious’ and we were suddenly live. We discussed schools reopening. This is the next concern. Will they be a source of spread? How will the teachers fare? I can’t stress enough how the risk of opening schools is much less than the risk of the harm it does to pupils not to attend, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Given the consternation that home-schooling caused back in April, they have to reopen. There will be infections, but they can be controlled. I tried to be reassuring.
Some more interesting emails and messages: a 13-year-old emailed to say he and his friends were putting together a book of interviews with COVID experts to raise money to buy dogs for special-needs children. He sent me some questions including: What did you miss during lockdown? and I saw you on TV before and after your haircut. Were you relieved to get it?
A mother emailed me to say that she and her daughter were in a pipe band. Her daughter had caught piper’s lung, which is caused by bacteria. I’ve never heard of that, but she wanted to know when I thought it might be possible for them to go back to rehearsals as they enjoy it so much.
A mental health nurse emailed about her son who had gone on holiday to Greece with eight friends. What advice would I give her now that her son is back? No judgement please – my own mother gave me enough of that. Us psych nurses survive on black humour!
And of course the usual haters: You are constantly spreading misinformation and lies. God’s vengeance on you will be merciless.
And another nice one! Frank Dillon is the head of the Men’s Shed Association and asked if I’d give a talk. I replied that I would be delighted to. It’s a superb organisation. When can we go back to our sheds? he wondered.
And finally, one from this morning: My wife and daughter were in a coffee shop and saw you come in. You weren’t wearing your mask. Is it OK not to wear masks now?
This was a coffee shop near Newstalk at 8.30 a.m. I replied saying I was half-asleep and forgot to put it on.
FRIDAY 28 AUGUST
Good Lord, this morning was stormy. Wind roaring through the trees. Wet leaves stuck to the pavement. The government announced a compensation package of €16 million for pubs, bars and nightclubs to help them reopen. I can’t see that happening for a long time.
SATURDAY 29 AUGUST
Me and Sam went to the cinema in Dún Laoghaire. We used to go nearly every week, usually on a Sunday. One of our big things to do together, me and my lad. We used to mark the films we saw out of ten. Tonight, it was Tenet. We got all the goodies to make the most of it. Popcorn. Coke. Very few were there. Just shows you. But it was GREAT. Just being in a cinema. We were giddy with excitement. Movie was hard to follow but we discussed it for two hours after, and we almost figured it out. Checked Wikipedia to be sure – still a head-wrecker though. Felt somehow appropriate, with time moving backwards and forwards simultaneously. Exactly how I feel.
SUNDAY 30 AUGUST
A piece I wrote for the Sunday Independent generated some interest. Risk of reinfection. People had been asking me how the vaccine will differ from the natural infection and what the risk of reinfection is, so I wrote about that. Vaccines are not the whole virus, and they have an immune booster. This is unlike the live virus: it doesn’t manipulate the immune response (like all viruses do). Although reinfection after the virus of vaccination is a worry, it’s not a huge one.
MONDAY 31 AUGUST
A new person started in the lab! Christian, a new PhD student. Spent time with him, explaining how my door is always open. And also went through the ideas I have for his project. Big day for him. I was reminded how almost exactly 25 years ago I started my own PhD. All those years ago and look at me now. We all journey through this strange thing called life. I wonder what Christian’s life will be like in 25 years’ time? Now there’s a thought. We need that time machine thing in Tenet to find out.
And so summer ends. August is over. The melancholy of September beckons. It must be said, August was something else. Inflazome. And COVID-19 coming back again: stay away, we don’t want you.