On April 14, a press conference on the State Council’s joint prevention and control mechanism was held in Beijing to introduce the progress of research and development of new crown pneumonia drugs, vaccine development and other scientific research. Sun Yanrong, deputy director of the Biological Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology, introduced at the conference that the scientific research and development group is actively promoting the deployment of a new round of projects and research processes, including monoclonal antibodies and specific immunoglobulin-related research. Actively promote independent research and development of drug research and development “monoclonal antibodies have been a hot spot for research, in the early research and development has deployed a number of domestic teams targeting monoclonal antibodies to carry out the corresponding research and development work.” Sun Yanrong introduced. She said that up to now, several strains of candidate therapeutic antibodies targeting the new coronavirus have been obtained, and subsequent efforts will be stepped up to promote research work in this area. Regarding the research on specific immunoglobulins, Sun Yanrong introduced that with the support of the research emergency program, the research team has continued to work on the research and developed a static injection of human immunoglobulin for New Coronavirus. This product is derived from the plasma of recovered patients and contains high-purity, high-efficiency neutralizing antibodies, which can be used for clinical treatment of patients and passive immune protection of high-risk groups after successful development. “We are also actively promoting the scientific research and development of independently developed drugs, attaching great importance to our independently developed drugs, and accelerating the research on clinical aspects including Chinese medicine, as well as a series of drugs such as Colistin, Hanfangan Methyl, Azulfidine, etc., hoping to produce more results faster for application in epidemic prevention and control.” Sun Yanrong said. More than 3,200 researchers participated in the scientific research Sun Yanrong introduced, after the outbreak, the scientific research group in the first time to deploy emergency scientific research projects, these projects have been “curable” as the main goal, the deployment of drug development and clinical treatment related to scientific research projects, a total of 27 projects deployed, undertake The research projects are undertaken by hospitals, universities, research institutions and enterprises. According to statistics, there are 152 participating institutions, including 47 in Wuhan. More than 3,200 researchers are involved in the research and development, including a number of academicians who have been working in the front line of clinical treatment in Wuhan, and these projects involve a total of 34 drugs and corresponding research and development technologies. Up to now, a series of results have been achieved, including four drugs that have received clinical approvals being carried out clinically, five that have formed guidance or expert consensus, and more than 10 results that have been incorporated into treatment plans and applied to clinical treatment, which have also achieved a series of results. Through scientific research and development to form the basic pattern of the main drugs Sun Yanrong said that the basic pattern of the main drugs is now formed through scientific research and development. “The research and development group has been adhering to the basic idea of ‘new use of old drugs’, and has quickly formed a basic pattern of main drugs including chloroquine phosphate, famipiravir and Chinese medicine on the basis of rigorous in vitro research and mechanism research.” Sun Yanrong said. A series of progress has also been made in the development of new clinical treatment technologies. Sun Yanrong introduced that stem cell therapy has been a hot spot of high concern, and more than 200 cases of stem cell therapy have been completed in Wuhan, and from the current results, the clinical treatment of stem cells applied to neocrown pneumonia has good safety. In terms of recovery plasma, up to now, more than 2,000 recovery plasma have been collected nationwide, and more than 700 cases have been applied in the clinic, showing very good therapeutic effects. Meanwhile, the research and development team has also conducted a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical study in Wuhan, and is in the process of data analysis and systematic summary. Preliminary results show that in terms of clinical improvement, the application of recovery plasma treatment was significantly better than the control group, and the median number of days of ICU stay was significantly lower than that of the control group. “In this way, recovery plasma is showing some efficacy in terms of clinical salvage.” Sun Yanrong said. Content source: Science and Technology Daily