Gilead Sciences said it is now working with health authorities in China to proceed with the randomized human trial of an experimental drug in the treatment of coronavirus symptoms.
The drug is remdesivir. It was used against the viral pathogens MERS and SARS and have demonstrated efficacy, at least in animal models. There are also few data that showed emergency use of remdesivir resulted positively for Ebola patients.
MERS and SARS have similar structures with the Wuhan coronavirus and this was what gave Gilead Sciences hope to proceed with the human trials.
To be clear, remdesivir is not yet licensed or approved anywhere in the world and in fact hasn't showed being safe or being effective for any use.
"At the request of treating physicians, and with support of local regulatory agencies, who have weighed the risks and benefits of providing an experimental drug with no data in 2019-nCov, Gilead has provided remdesivir for use in a small number of patients with 2019-nCov for emergency treatment," Gilead Sciences said in a statement.
There is no cure for Wuhan coronavirus. What treatments, such as remdesivir, bring is cure for the symptoms aggravated by the virus.
Coronavirus symptoms include fever and cough but cases that lead to the discovery of the new strain are pneumonia among patients. Indeed, those that died due to the virus are mostly above 60 years old or with pre-existing medical conditions. Most patients died of acute respiratory distress syndrome and respiratory failure.
Gilead Sciences is not the only big name in the pharmaceutical industry going after treatment for coronavirus.
AbbVie floated possibility as well with its mixture of two of its HIV medications and Tamiflu. The cocktail of medicine was created jointly with Roche, and Chugai Pharmaceutical.
Johnson & Johnson is also developing a similar coronavirus drug, racing against its biggest competition, GlaxoSmithKline.
Minor participants in the pharma industry are also trying to develop a vaccine for the outbreak. Among them are Moderna, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, and Novavax.
The World Health Organization declared the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak a global emergency. At the rate of how death tolls and confirmed cases were skyrocketing, the Chinese government agreed to work with the health experts from the United States - something which it was reluctant to do prior.
To date, 426 people have already died in China while 632 patients have recovered. On Tuesday, China reported 3,235 new confirmed cases bringing the total to a new 20,438.
Worldwide, there have been a total of 20,626 infected people while deaths were reported in the Philippines (1) and Hong Kong (1).
