Breaking: Clinical Trial for Coronavirus Treatment Begins in China

A US-citizen who was onboard the coronavirus riddled cruise ship Diamond Princess has agreed to participate in a study of an experimental drug against the coronavirus. It’s called Remdesvir and is a broad-spectrum antiviral drug.

It has previously been successfully tested in humans with the Ebola virus, and has proven promising against Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrom (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrom (SARS), which are both caused by different types of coronavirus strains. 

The drug is developed by the American Laboratory Moderna Therapeutics. Technical Director of Operations, Juan Andrés says: “We are proud to work with public health agencies to help give a possible response to this global, continuing health crisis.”

Unlike a vaccine, the drug is not developed to be preventative, but to treat already infected people. It has been designed to act rapidly against the virus and Clinical trials will begin shortly with 500 patients in China.