US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — The Swiss drug for coronavirus passes the final stage of testing after successful use in mice, reports SRF. The drug suppresses the overreaction of the immune system to COVID-19, which helps patients in the most severe cases. However, the main goal remains the search for a vaccine, the channel notes.
Around the world, entire cohorts of scientists are developing a tool against coronavirus. In a feverish search, Swiss research teams are also in the forefront. Today, the pharmaceutical company Roche said that in cooperation with the US authorities, it is conducting the final stage of testing.
Roche suppresses the overreaction of the immune system, which in severe cases leads to death from coronavirus. A drug from a pharmaceutical company in Basel has already been approved for use in arthritis. Therefore, the purpose of current trials is only to establish its effectiveness in cases of coronavirus disease. In China, the drug has already been used in emergency situations. Successfully.
SEVERIN SCHWAN, Roche Executive Director: In their directives, the authorities have fixed the use of the drug in such cases. We are in dialogue with governments around the world, including outside of China, to provide the drug to patients.
This team of immunologists from the University of Bern is looking for, together with colleagues from China, not a medicine, but a vaccine against coronavirus. Suitable serum has already been found. And its use really leads to the fact that the coronavirus can no longer attach to the cells of mice. Berne is sure that it will work in public.
MARTIN BACHMAN, professor of immunology from the University of Bern: If the experiments we conduct here are successful, then in half a year we will be able to produce millions of ampoules.
The worldwide search for a remedy for coronavirus is a race against time. The race, which can save the lives of a huge number of people, including in Switzerland, explains the epidemiologist Marcel Salate of the Lausanne Federal Polytechnic School.
MARSEILLE SALATE, Professor of Epidemiology at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne: Both tasks are urgent. A medicine can alleviate the worst symptoms. This, of course, is important. But the ultimate goal is to create a vaccine with which we can protect everyone preventively. And put an end to this.
There was a lively discussion at Swissmedic today about accelerated drug approval procedures. The fact is that, as soon as the first requests appear, you can not lose a minute. This applies to drugs manufactured both in the country and abroad.
KLAUS BOLTE, Head of Approval at Swissmedic: Of course, this applies not only to the expedited approval process, but also to all of our procedures. They are not limited only to our country, to Switzerland alone. Everyone can pass them. It depends on our researchers how quickly they can offer something, but we stand ready.
No one undertakes to predict how quickly Switzerland can really find a remedy for coronavirus that has passed successful trials, because people’s lives do not only depend on this worldwide search. There is still a lot of money involved.
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The article is written and prepared by our foreign editors from different countries around the world – material edited and published by Ordo News staff in our US newsroom press.