The world of medicine has been doing 24 hours a day to find a vaccine that can cure COVID-19. Oxford University had invented one vaccine that was going clinical trials to test its strength in battling the deadly virus that has got over 4 million people infected globally. Word in the street had it that if the clinical trials failed the UK, Kenya could be potential ground for testing, a chilling revelation that did not augur well with many Kenyans.
But Chinese scientists have put all that to rest after revealing that there is a possibility that the virus could be cured without a vaccine. These scientists have been working on a drug that could put COVID-19 to eternal bedrest. The drug being developed in Peking University China according to researchers could not only shorten the recovery time for those infected but even offer short-term immunity from the virus, researchers say. The drug has been a big success at the animal testing stage.
“When we injected neutralising antibodies into infected mice, after five days the viral load was reduced by a factor of 2,500. That means this potential drug has (a) therapeutic effect,” said Sunney Xie, director of the university’s Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics.
According to the team of researchers, antibodies provide a potential cure for the disease and shortens recovery time. Planning is already underway for the drug to undergo clinical testing with hope the neutralised antibodies become that specialised drug that will stop the pandemic. The team leader noted that if the clinical trials are a success, the drug should be ready for use later this year and a foreseeable outbreak of the virus in future. This new drug could be a faster and more efficient way to deal with coronavirus.
