China Applies for Patent for Drug That Could Fight Coronavirus

China has applied for a new patent on an experimental Gilead Sciences Inc. drug that its scientists believe might fight the coronavirus. It has applied for a patent for the use of the drug, know as remdesivir, to treat the novel coronavirus. The move is a sign that China views Gilead’s therapy as one of the most promising candidates to fight the outbreak that has now claimed almost 500 lives. A patent battle may affect Gilead’s control over the drug in China. While Gilead’s experimental drug isn’t licensed or approved anywhere in the world, it is being rushed into human trials in China on coronavirus patients after showing early signs of being highly effective. The patent application was made on Jan. 21, according to a statement posted on the website of the virology institute in Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the epicenter of the epidemic. Scientists there have found Gilead’s remdesivir, and chloroquine, an 80-year-old malaria drug, “highly effective” in laboratory studies at thwarting the novel coronavirus, they said Tuesday in a paper in the journal Cell Research. The two drugs’ efficacies on humans required further clinical tests, the institute said in the statement. China is capable of manufacturing chloroquine and now wants access to remdesivir. It is not clear if or when China’s intellectual property authorities will approve the institute’s application. Gilead’s experimental drug is at present enter...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized 2019-nCoV Bloomberg China onetime overnight Source Type: news