China starts using antiviral drug Remdesivir in clinical trials against Wuhan virus

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Thu, 06 Feb 2020 - 12:13 GMT

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Thu, 06 Feb 2020 - 12:13 GMT

An employee tests a health protection mask at the Kolmi-Hopen company's factory in Saint-Barthelemy-d'Anjou as their activities boosted following the coronavirus outbreak, France, February 5, 2020. Picture taken February 5, 2020. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

An employee tests a health protection mask at the Kolmi-Hopen company's factory in Saint-Barthelemy-d'Anjou as their activities boosted following the coronavirus outbreak, France, February 5, 2020. Picture taken February 5, 2020. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

BEIJING - 6 February 2020: The registration for clinical trials on the antiviral drug Remdesivir has been approved, and the first batch of pneumonia patients infected by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) are expected to start taking the drug on Thursday, Xinhua reported.

The approval is jointly supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the National Health Commission and the National Medical Products Administration.

Remdesivir is a drug developed by Gilead Sciences, an American pharmaceutical company, said Cao Bin, head of the drug's clinical trial program, at the conference held by the MOST at the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, central China's Hubei Province.

The drug has shown good antiviral activity against Sars and Mers coronavirus in previous cell and animal experiments.

The trials, led by the China-Japan Friendship Hospital and the Institute of Materia Medica under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS), will be conducted in several hospitals in Wuhan, including the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital.

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