The United States is working with a pharmaceutical company to develop a treatment for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, using a class of drug that has boosted survival rates among Ebola patients, officials said Tuesday.
"Emerging infectious diseases can present serious threats to our nation's health security," said Rick Bright, an official at the HHS. They lock on to certain proteins on a virus, neutralizing the pathogen's ability to infect human cells. "The life-saving results seen with our investigational Ebola therapy last year underscore the potential impact of Regeneron's rapid response platform for addressing emerging outbreaks," said George Yancopoulos, Regeneron's president and chief scientific officer.
Doctors have also combined the treatment with another anti-flu drug called oseltamivir, hoping the creative cocktail can sap the new coronavirus of its strength.