It has now been confirmed that at least 42 people aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship have been infected with the Coronavirus, 21 of which are now being quarantined at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield. The virus has spread rapidly amongst the passengers and even more so across the globe with thousands now infected in multiple countries. With the world trying to contain the virus and scrambling to find a cure, one Bay Area company has begun testing a potential treatment.
Gilead Sciences, based in Foster CIty, has developed a drug, called remdesivir, that's an antiviral treatment that was tested before in helping to treat symptoms of Ebola. Dr. Anthony Fauci of Gilead thinks that we may know soon if it's working:
âA few days ago, we initiated a randomized controlled trial of a drug called remdesivir, which has antiviral activity in vitro in an animal model...Which means we we will know reasonably soon whether it works and if it does, we will then have an effective therapy to distribute.â
With the city of San Francisco and Santa Clara county already declaring a state of emergency, and Contra Costa county soon to follow, a cure is needed here ASAP! If our Bay Area based company can get it figured out, they would be able to duplicate and distribute worldwide to eradicate this deadly virus.