UBC research helps fuel potential COVID-19 treatment
If the treatment proves effective at reducing viral load and fever in patients with severe COVID-19 infections, it is likely to be evaluated in a new, much larger, clinical trial.
Randy Shore
Published on: February 25, 2020 | Last Updated: February 25, 2020 10:41 PM EST
“In essence, we have a rational targeted therapy we had been working on for years, (and) together, an international team, an amazing team in Europe, China, and Canada, will make a clinical trial happen within weeks,” said Penninger in an email.
The treatment was developed by Vienna-based APEIRON Biologics, co-founded by Penninger, who is also a Canada 150 Chair in Functional Genetics.
“The last weeks we worked like crazy to get this drug to China with all the logistics, ethics (and) the amazing effort of many people,” said Penninger. “Now, the drug landed in China (on Monday).”
The trial is being coordinated by Nanshan Zhong, chair of the National COVID-19 Commission, and Yimin Li, who led the fight against SARS in Guangdong, China, in 2003.
The one-week APN01 trial is one of about 90 drug trials underway in China, testing the efficacy of treatments developed for influenza, HIV, and MERS coronavirus, among others.
As of Feb. 25, the WHO had recorded 80,239 cases globally, with 908 reported in the past 24 hours. The majority of cases remain in China, with 77,780 cases reported and 2,666 deaths. Outside of China, there are 2,459 cases and 34 deaths, with 11 reported in the past 24 hours.
The mortality rate — around 2.2 per cent overall — varies dramatically with age. The death rate for people between 10 and 49 years of age is 0.2 to 0.4 per cent, but ranges up to nearly 15 per cent for patients aged 80 and above.