China has kick-started a clinical trial to speedily test a treatment for the novel Coronavirus infection as the nation rushes therapies for those afflicted and scours for vaccines to protect the rest.
A hospital spokeswoman who Bloomberg News on Monday, added that Remdesivir, a new antiviral drug by Gilead Sciences Inc. will be tested by a medical team from Beijing-based China-Japan Friendship Hospital.
The antiviral drug aimed at infectious diseases such Ebola and SARS will be tested for its efficacy in treating the deadly new strain of coronavirus.
Trial for the drug will be conducted in the central Chinese city of Wuhan — epicenter of the viral outbreak that has so far killed more than 360 people, sickened over 17,000 in China and spread to more than a dozen nations.
As many as 270 patients with mild and moderate pneumonia caused by the virus will be recruited in a randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled study, Chinese news outlet reported on Sunday.
Drugmakers such as GlaxoSmithKline Plc. as well as Chinese authorities are racing to crash develop vaccines and therapies to combat the new virus that’s more contagious than SARS.
Scientists believe that Coronavirus could cost the global economy four times more than the $40 billion sapped by the 2003 SARS outbreak.
The decision to hold human trials for Remdesivir shows it’s among the most promising therapies against the virus that so far has no specific treatments or vaccines.
Gilead Sciences Inc. in a statement last week revealed that the experimental drug has not yet been approved for use by any drug regulator in the world but is being used on patients battling the new virus in the absence of approved treatment options.
Meanwhile, a global search continues for therapies to contain the infection that can spread undetected.
The Chief Scientific Officer of Johnson & Johnson, Paul Stoffels said last month the company had initiated work on a preventive coronavirus vaccine and has “dozens of scientists” working on it.
GlaxoSmithKline and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations on Monday said they will work to accelerate the creation of a vaccine and then provide the doses rapidly.
