By Sola Ogundipe

SCIENTISTS have been studying coronaviruses since 2003. The 2019-nCoV does not currently have an effective medicine treatment or vaccine, though efforts to develop them are underway.

There’s a drug called Remdesivir which scientists at at the University of North Carolina , in collaboration with Gilead Sciences, have been testing in a level 3 containment facility for its ability to fight a whole range of coronaviruses.

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The drug targets an enzyme that different kinds of coronaviruses need to replicate themselves. They’ve tested the drug in mice infected with the SARS  virus, as well as MERS, another coronavirus.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) announced that it started research and development of a vaccine for the coronavirus and  also conducting drug screening for treatment.

Vanguard