testtube/coronavirus
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A Chinese laboratory has been developing a drug it believes has the power to bring the coronavirus pandemic to a halt. The outbreak was first reported in China late last year before spreading across the world, prompting an international race to produce treatments and vaccines.

A drug being tested by scientists at China's Peking University could not only shorten the recovery time for those infected but even offer short-term immunity from the virus, researchers say. Sunney Xie, director of the university's Beijing Advanced Innovation Centre for Genomics, told AFP that the drug has been successful at the animal testing stage.
"When we injected neutralizing 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."
The drug uses neutralizing antibodies, produced by the human immune system to prevent the virus infecting cells, which Mr. Xie's team isolated from the blood of 60 recovered patients.

A study on the team's research, published on Sunday in the scientific journal Cell, suggests that using the antibodies provides a potential "cure" for the disease and shortens recovery time. Mr. Xie said his team had been working "day and night" searching for the antibody.

He added that the drug should be ready for use later this year and in time for any potential winter outbreak of the virus, which has infected 4.8 million people around the world and killed more than 315,000.

"Planning for the clinical trial is underway," said Mr. Xie, adding it will be carried out in Australia and other countries since cases have dwindled in China, offering fewer human guinea pigs for testing. "The hope is these neutralized antibodies can become a specialized drug that would stop the pandemic," he said.

Scientists have also pointed to the potential benefits of plasma - a blood fluid - from recovered individuals who have developed antibodies to the virus enabling the body's defenses to attack it. More than 700 patients have received plasma therapy in China, a process that authorities said showed "very good therapeutic effects".