Drugmakers seek ways to halt virus that eludes travel curbs

Bloomberg

Drugmakers are racing to find medicines that can curb the spread of the coronavirus as the infection bypasses China’s travel restrictions.
Pharmaceutical companies from Gilead Sciences Inc to Moderna Inc are pursuing two main strategies: helping to re-purpose medicines developed against other lethal viruses from Ebola to HIV, and relying on new technologies to develop a vaccine faster than ever before.
Deaths in China climbed to at least 80 on Monday as the country announced new measures, including an extension of the Lunar New Year holiday. Chinese authorities said the new respiratory virus isn’t under control despite aggressive steps to limit movement for millions of people who live in cities near the centre of the outbreak.
Gilead’s experimental Ebola treatment remdesivir is being studied to determine whether it can combat the coronavirus — a member of a family of crown-shaped viruses that includes Sars as well as some forms of the common cold. The company said by email that it’s coordinating with researchers and clinicians in the US and China.
Meanwhile, doctors in China have started using a combination of AbbVie Inc’s HIV drugs ritonavir and lopinavir at hospitals. A clinical trial is assessing whether the combination, sold under the brand name Kaletra, is more effective than an antiviral medicine known as interferon-alpha 2b in treating patients.
The use of existing drugs for a new virus, especially one whose patterns aren’t well known, is entirely experimental, and there is no guarantee of success.
A smaller company, Vir Biote-
chnology Inc, is also evaluating whether some of its previously developed monoclonal antibodies — proteins grown from living cells that can be used to neutralise pathogens — can be used against the coronavirus strain.
The new pathogen is believed to have emerged last month in a seafood and wildlife market in Wuhan, spreading from infected animals to humans. The number of cases has continued to grow within China, and patients with the infection have been found in several additional countries, including the US, France, Singapore, Thailand and Japan.

China cancels Feb exams needed to study abroad
Bloomberg

China has cancelled the February exams that Chinese students need to enter schools and universities overseas as the country seeks to contain the spread of the coronavirus, potentially disrupting enrolment plans at educational institutions across the globe.
All English tests for IELTS, TOEFL and the GRE and GMAT graduate entry exams next month are cancelled, China’s National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA) said on Monday. The severity of the situation calls for comprehensive “measures to contain the spread of coronavirus at all public venues, including test centers,” the authority said.
in its announcements on the closures.

The cancellations may mean a delay in when some Chinese students can begin studies outside the country. That would not only affect matriculation planning for universities and schools, but could make it harder for China to achieve the promised increase in imports that it agreed to in the trade deal with the U.S. Chinese studying or traveling overseas is counted as an export of services, and the agreement commits China to almost double 2020 imports of services from 2017 levels.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the quarantined city of Wuhan on Monday as the death toll and number of infected continued to climb despite redoubled efforts to contain the virus. Confirmed cases in China surged to 2,744, while the latest death toll rose to at least 80.
Separately, Tsinghua University, one of China’s top institutions, announced that it would delay the beginning of classes for its spring semester, which was scheduled to start Feb. 17, “to reduce the risk of transmission and ensure the health and safety of every student and staff.” No new start date was given.
In addition to locking down the epicentre of the outbreak in Wuhan and surrounding cities in Hubei province, the government decided to extend the Lunar New Year break to avoid travellers exacerbating the disease’s spread when hundreds of millions of workers return to cities from their hometowns.
Full refunds are available for people planning to take the tests in February and future registration and examination details will be announced according to the progress of epidemic prevention and control, NEEA said in the statement.