The U.S. biotech firm has formalized agreement with China to conduct clinical trial of remdesivir https://www.wsj.com/articles/gilead...or-coronavirus-treatments-testing-11580511519 Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD -1.30% said on Friday that it had provided doses of an experimental antiviral drug to doctors for the emergency treatment of a small number of patients infected by the new coronavirus. Gilead, based in Foster City, Calif., also said it has formalized an agreement with Chinese authorities to conduct a clinical trial of the drug remdesivir in patients infected with the coronavirus. Health authorities have been searching for a treatment for China coronavirus infections, which lack an approved drug or vaccine. Several drugmakers have said they are trying to develop a vaccine, which could prevent but not treat infections. Researchers had been hoping to study whether Gilead’s remdesivir and other antivirals could work as treatments. Unlike some of the other antivirals being examined, Gilead’s drug isn’t approved for use in humans by regulators in the U.S. or internationally. Unapproved drugs are sometimes put into use or in testing in emergencies when health authorities believe the drug could help patients who otherwise lack good treatments. Separately, the drug was administered to an infected patient in Washington state, researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine on Friday. The man, 35 years old, had traveled to Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak started, and after returning to the U.S. was the first person in the country to test positive for the China coronavirus. The patient was given remdesivir on the seventh day of his hospitalization, Jan. 26, and the following day the patient’s clinical condition improved. As of Jan. 30, the patient remains hospitalized, but “all symptoms have resolved with the exception of his cough, which is decreasing in severity,” the researchers wrote. I hope you are long S&P 500....;=)
https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/coronavirus-china-hong-kong/ A deadly new virus. Thousands of people infected. No cure. No vaccine. We've been here many times before. In the past five years alone, the world has faced outbreaks of Ebola, Zika, another coronavirus called Mers (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), and now the virus simply known as "2019-nCoV". It's already infected thousands of people and killed more than 100. But unlike in many previous outbreaks, where vaccines to protect people have taken years to develop, research for a vaccine to help stem this outbreak got under way within hours of the virus being identified. Chinese officials released its genetic code very quickly. That information helps scientists determine where the virus probably came from, how it might mutate as the outbreak develops, and how to protect people against it. With technological advances and greater commitment from governments around the world to fund research on emerging diseases, research facilities were able to spring into action fast. Unprecedented speed At Inovio's lab in San Diego, scientists are using a relatively new type of DNA technology to develop a potential vaccine. "INO-4800" - as it's currently called - with plans for it to enter human trials by the early summer. Kate Broderick, senior vice-president of research and development at Inovio, said: "Once China had provided the DNA sequence of this virus, we were able to put it through our lab's computer technology and design a vaccine within three hours. "Our DNA medicine vaccines are novel in that they use DNA sequences from the virus to target specific parts of the pathogen which we believe the body will mount the strongest response to. "We then use the patient's own cells to become a factory for the vaccine, strengthening the body's own natural response mechanisms." Although several vaccine candidates are under development for the new Wuhan coronavirus, it would take months for testing and nearly a year for a vaccine to be available for the public. However, US health officials have fast-tracked their work on a coronavirus vaccine and expect to begin an early-stage clinical trial within three months. Even with the fast-track, the vaccine may not be available for public use until after a year or more, reported CNBC citing a statement from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Anthony Fauci. A statement from Fauci read: “It will take three months to get it into the trial, three months to get safety, immunogenicity data. Then you move into Phase II. What we do from that point on will be determined by what has happened with the outbreak over those months. “We are proceeding as if we will have to deploy a vaccine. In other words, we are working on the worst scenario that this becomes a bigger outbreak.” Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are working with biotechnology company Moderna to develop the vaccine by using the currently available strain of the new virus. The UK leaves the European Union on 31 January. Do you think this will be a positive or a negative for the pharmaceutical industry? China coronavirus vaccine development China also accelerated the development of a coronavirus vaccine by granting urgent approval to an mRNA vaccine project, noted Tongji University’s Shanghai East Hospital. Xinhua reports that the hospital will work with Stermirna Therapeutics to develop the vaccine. Stermirna Therapeutics CEO Li Hangwen estimates that vaccine samples will be manufactured within 40 days and based on new mRNA technology and other preliminary techniques. Moreover, Russian consulate said that it is working with China to develop a vaccine, reported Reuters. The country has not confirmed any infected cases so far. Hong Kong’s coronavirus vaccine Researchers claim that a vaccine for the virus has already been developed. Hong Kong University professor Yuen Kwok-Yung said that the vaccine has been produced but is yet to be tested on animals or human test subjects. The vaccine was developed by modifying an influenza vaccine with a part of the surface antigen of the coronavirus, making the vaccine useful in preventing both influenza and coronavirus. Coronavirus vaccines and treatments Germany is the recent country to announce hopes of a potential coronavirus vaccine in the near future. The country’s Research Minister Anja Karliczek said that the vaccine may be developed within few months. The news comes as a German pharmaceutical company CureVac announced partnership with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop a vaccine against the new virus using its mRNA platform. France’s Pasteur Institute Foundation also set up a taskforce to develop a vaccine within 20 months. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) was among the first to announce works on a new coronavirus vaccine. The organisation is working with Moderna to develop the vaccine. Moderna, along with Inovio Pharmaceuticals, secured the CEPI funding to work on a vaccine. Moderna will develop a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine, while Inovio will work with Wistar Institute, GeneOne Life Science unit VGXI and Twist Bioscience to develop its coronavirus vaccine candidate INO-4800. In addition, Gilead Sciences is testing its investigational Ebola drug, remdesivir, for potential effect against the new coronavirus strain. Purdue University researchers are also working to develop vaccines and also oral medication for the viral infection. Vir Biotechnology and Novavax also joined the list of biotech companies with plans to develop a vaccine, while AbbVie provided its HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir for China to test their use in treating coronavirus symptoms. In addition, Sirnaomics engaged its research teams in the US and China to develop RNA interference (RNAi)-based prophylactics and therapeutics. Chinese researchers selected to test 30 existing medicines, biologically active natural products and the country’s traditional medicines for potential therapeutic effects against the Wuhan coronavirus. Johnson & Johnson, CytoDyn, Clover and AbCellera are also working on vaccines and treatments, while Australian scientists recreated a lab-grown version of the new virus.
I love how the health-care sector here in the US just keep dropping on this wonderful news about all this "progress". Feel the Bern!
When someone comes up with a drug treatment for the coronavirus, they’re not going to be able to make enough of it on their own, which means all and list the other biotech companies to produce it as well. This means all the biotech companies that are enlisted to reduce overall increase value.