In a press conference from Downing Street on Tuesday, England Health Service official Stephen Powis said the first person has been recruited into clinical trails on drug to fight coronavirus.
National medical director of NHS England, Professor Stephen Powis, was asked whether anti-malarial medication chloroquine – which the UK has placed under an export ban – was being considered for use to treat coronavirus.
He said: “There are number of drugs where there is a lot of interest that they may potentially have an effect in the treatment of the virus and the ones that you mentioned – which are chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine – those are drugs that, as you say, have been used in malaria are on that list.
“There is a lot of interest both internationally and also in the UK to learn how those drugs might be used.
“Here in the UK we want to do as much as we possibly can within the context of clinical trials.
“We have excellent networks already set up to be able to do clinical trials and it’s important that we do that to absolutely learn where the drugs potentially work and where they don’t.”
There is no typical length of time it takes for a drug to be tested and approved. It might take 10 to 15 years or more.
However, with the urgency of coronavirus it could in fact be fast-tracked.
Source: | Daily Express
