Viral replication has swept the nation during the pandemic. But a new treatment might put a stop to one of COVID-19’s main attacks on our bodies.
President Donald Trump announced at the coronavirus task force briefing Thursday afternoon that Pfizer has found a “promising new treatment that might prevent the virus from replicating.”
The company hopes to soon begin testing it in clinical trials.
“… promising new treatment that might prevent the virus from replicating.” — President Trump
Pfizer found a leading experimental drug candidate against SARS-CoV-2 and is planning to test it in the coming months.
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The Wall Street Journal interviewed Pfizer’s research and development chief, Mikael Dolsten.
He said that early R&D has shown its candidate blocks the new virus, which causes COVID-19, from replicating, with hopes it could slow or stop the spread of the virus in patients with mild to moderate symptoms.
“I feel confident that we will win, battle by battle, to turn around this viral war against our society,” Dolsten said in the interview.
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Another Test on the Horizon
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have entered into a global collaboration agreement to co-develop BioNTech’s potential first-in-class, mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine program aimed at preventing COVID-19 infection.
The two companies plan to jointly conduct clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine candidates initially in the United States and Europe across multiple sites.
“We have already started working with Pfizer on our COVID-19 vaccine and are pleased to announce these further details of our ongoing collaboration, which reflects both companies’ strong commitment to move quickly to bring a safe and efficacious vaccine to patients worldwide,” said Dr. Ugur Sahin, who is a co-founder and CEO of BioNTech.
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FDA and Current Drug Testing
The FDA website is updated daily about what’s happening on the medical front.
Here is the latest information:
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA has worked with more than 270 test developers who have said they will submit emergency use authorization requests to FDA for tests that detect the virus.
- To date, 32 emergency use authorizations have been issued for diagnostic tests.
- The FDA has been notified that more than 150 laboratories have begun testing under the policies set forth in our COVID-19 Policy for Diagnostic Tests for Coronavirus Disease-2019 during the Public Health Emergency Guidance.
- The FDA also continues to keep its COVID-19 Diagnostics FAQ up to date.
