Coronavirus Update: Is There A Drug To Treat COVID-19? Gilead, Moderna Offerings Show Promise

The University of Nebraska Medical Center and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases plan to conduct a clinical trial of Gilead’s experimental drug for the novel coronavirus as deaths from the outbreak lurched toward 3,000.

The drug, remdesivir, has been tested on 761 patients suffering from COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak. China’s Intellectual Property Administration said Tuesday it would release results of the trial April 27.

Remdesivir was used in the first case of COVID-19 in the U.S.

Despite news of the clinical trial, Gilead (GILD) opened lower Tuesday.

Moderna Inc. (MRNA) Monday shipped a drug – mRNA-1273 – to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a phase one study, sending its shares higher.

World Health Organization said Monday Gilead’s drug so far holds the most promise for combatting the virus, which has led to the lockdown of millions of people in China and elsewhere as governments try to contain the spread of the infection.

Though the bulk of the infections are in China – 80,000 and climbing – outbreaks were surging in South Korea, Italy and the Middle East, stoking fears of a pandemic.

Fujifilm Holdings Corp. (FUJIY), GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) and Sanofi (SNY) also are developing treatments for the virus, which has disrupted travel and forced factory closures.

Fujifilm’s antiviral favipiravir – Avigan – which is used to treat reemergent influenza in Japan and has been used against Ebola, also is being tested in generic form in China, and the company is considering a boost in production.

Remdesivir originally was developed to combat other coronaviruses like SARS and also was tested against Ebola.

He Zhimin, vice head of the National Intellectual Property Administration, told a Tuesday briefing China has yet to grant Gilead the full patent protection it seeks for the drug, presenting a potential problem given that researchers at the virology institute in Wuhan also have filed a patent application for the drug’s use against COVID-19. BrightGene Bio-Medical Technology Co. in Suzhou has begun mass-producing remdesivir after developing the technology to synthesize the active ingredients despite the unsettled patent issues.

China has more than 100 clinical trials underway, testing everything from anti-flu vaccines to anti-malaria drugs to HIV treatments.

“We have got to start prioritizing enrollment into those things that may save lives and save them faster,” WHO Dr. Bruce Aylward told a press briefing Monday in China. “And that’s a global issue, not China, it’s a global issue.”