I'm talking to you sitting in my bedroom
in London that's really weird but things
are different right now I am in lockdown
told to stay at home as much as possible
and work right here the last few months
from most of us have not just been
bizarre scary hundreds of thousands have
caught the corona virus and tens of
thousands have died from it and that
will rise but in this video I want to
talk about some of the positive news the
stories of success we're having in
trying to treat it and where we are in
terms of a vaccine the bad news is that
there is currently no cure for the
corona virus yet there has been some
recent news that offers some promising
steps drugs that scientists hope can
provide an effective treatment for those
people with kovat 19 who end up in
hospital so let's start with here in the
UK a drug company called sinigang has
begun phase 2 trials on its drug SN G
double O 1 for covert 19 patients the
treatment involves something called
interferon beta that's a molecule which
forms part of the lungs defense
mechanism to fight off viruses the idea
is that this drug would help reduce the
severity of the infection with Kovan 19
especially for those people whose immune
systems are weakened to the virus the
trial that's happening now phase 2 is
where they expand the numbers of
subjects and focus more on the
effectiveness of the drug now the drug
wasn't originally intended for the
corona virus it was being developed
before the virus hit as a treatment for
a group of lung diseases trials with
asthma patients have shown it helps to
enhance the lungs antiviral defenses but
if it passes the testing phase it could
reduce the severity of corona virus and
potentially reduce the deaths that
result from it there's also an existing
treatment called fav AP Revere and it's
another drug which could offer some hope
the drug which is currently used against
the flu in Japan has been hailed as
clearly effective against corona virus
by Chinese health officials 340 kovat 19
patients in China have taken part in
trials with those who took the drug
testing negative for the virus after
just four days but Japan has warned that
while it could be
for mild or moderate cases it may not be
as effective against more severe
symptoms it's also been reported that it
may not be suitable for pregnant women
as it could cause fetal abnormalities
more trials for the drug are also taking
place in Japan and more than 80 patients
are taking part but it could be a while
before the results are published another
drug which has got a lot of attention is
chloroquine it's been used to treat
malaria for decades but could hold a key
to fighting over 19 to malta Pirrie
search team have shown promising results
with the drug however it's important to
point out that we are at a very early
stage with the drug until large-scale
trials are carried out it's hard to know
how effective the drug could be and what
the full risks and side effects are
indeed chloroquine tablets which are
already available for other medical uses
have long lists of side-effects and
overdosing can be fatal and scientists
have stressed that the drug should only
be taken under medical supervision and
that it's crucial not to self-medicate
and instead wait until drugs get the
proper approval so while chloroquine has
shown some promise more testing is
needed before it can be made widely
available and you at home should
definitely not use it to medicate
yourselves but let's focus on some other
good news in terms of treatment and how
people are working around the clock to
help those with kovat 19 here in the UK
a breathing aid that can keep
coronavirus patients out of intensive
care has been speedily made in under a
week University College London said the
device had been designed by mechanical
engineers medics and the Mercedes
Formula One team it's a device that has
been used in Italy in China and it's
less invasive than a ventilator it helps
to increase the amount of oxygen going
into the lungs if the trial goes well up
to a thousand could be made per day it's
another encouraging sign of helping to
alleviate the effects of kovat 19 on
patients but everything we've just
spoken about is on treating those with
coronavirus not actually preventing it
so let's talk about a vaccine and here
there's a lot of misinformation doing
the rounds
there have been headlines from some
outlets suggesting we could be just six
months away from a vaccine sounds too
good to be true doesn't it and
unfortunately that's the case while
scientists around the world are working
nonstop to develop a vaccine it's widely
predicted that an available product
won't be ready for another 12 to 18
months that may sound like a long way
away but it's an incredibly quick
turnaround and the good news is that
numerous groups are working on this the
w-h-o says there are at least 44
candidates for a possible vaccine all in
different stages of development there
are three phases of trials involving
human subjects when it comes to getting
a vaccine phase one is small phase two
and three expands a number of subjects
to see how safe and effective the
vaccine is and whether there are
side-effects after that if all is good
regulatory bodies in various countries
step in in order to approve whether or
not the vaccine should be signed off and
then it could be sent to manufacturers
all of these different stages clinical
trials regulation manufacturing can take
years in normal conditions speeding up
this process is difficult those clinical
trials take time because they need to
ensure the safety of a drug I spoke with
Chanukah shoot maker at Janssen
pharmaceuticals in the Netherlands who
told me that her team has been
all-hands-on-deck since January and that
she and other groups around the world
have been working around the clock to
get a vaccine normally 15 development
takes five to seven years if not longer
and this time to develop a Kovach 1915
everybody is trying to cross that time
line of course we keep complete focus on
the safety of our product not cutting
any corners and and really doing our
utmost best to deliver an efficacious
vaccine within that time limit to help
curb this outbreak
so that's the latest in terms of
treatment for coronavirus and where we
are in terms of a vaccine it's still
early days in both these areas and it
will take time to ensure we have
effective treatment and over a year to
get a possible vaccine and think of all
those healthcare workers out there
risking their lives and working
countless hours to tend to patients and
ensure their survival just here in the
UK thousands of former NHS workers have
returned to the frontline and more than
700,000 people have volunteered to help
tackle this virus these are definitely
worrying times but a lot is being done
by countless people all over the world
to make our future safer
you