China hopes to approve its first COVID-19 drug in December

The first drug to treat COVID-19 of several being developed in China could get the green light for use in December and is based on the use of monoclonal antibodies capable of neutralizing the virus, state media reported.

The treatment is the result of a joint investigation by the Tsinghua University, the Shenzhen People’s Hospital Number Three (southeast) and company Brii Biosciences, which is headquartered in both China and the United States, according to the Global Times newspaper.

“The human body produces a large number of antibodies, but not all of them have antiviral efficacy. Our research aims to select the strongest so that they can be used in drug form to treat infected patients”Explained the professor of the Tsinghua University School of Medicine Zhang Linqi, quoted by the newspaper.

According to the data released so far, this type of drug would be used to treat mild or moderate cases of COVID-19.

Brii Biosciences announced in late August that the treatment demonstrated an up to 78% reduction in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths during a third phase of clinical trials conducted in the United States, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina and the Philippines.

In China, the third phase of testing is led by the scientist Zhong Nanshan and it is developed in the cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen (province of Canton, southeast) and in those of Nanjing and Yangzhou (province of Jiangsu, east).

So far the experimental drug has been administered to more than 700 patients who contracted the disease during the recent and still active wave of outbreaks in the Asian country, attributed to the contagious Delta variant.

Chinese companies and institutions are also developing two other drugs against the new coronavirus.

The state pharmaceutical company Sinopharm – responsible for two COVID-19 vaccines that are being used in several countries – is investigating a therapy based on the plasma of recovered patients and whose clinical trials will soon begin in the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, the biotechnology company Kintor is working on a third formula that is also in the testing phase.

China accumulates 98,337 infections since the beginning of the pandemic -22 of them notified this Tuesday- and 4,636 deaths from COVID-19, according to data from the National Health Commission.

The Asian country for the moment rules out living with the virus and maintains a policy of “zero tolerance”With the virus that entails a strict border closure and the application of harsh containment measures and mobility restrictions every time outbreaks are detected in their territory.