Australian researchers claim to have found 2 drugs for treating coronavirus

Researchers in Australia on March 16 reportedly claimed that they had found two drugs to treat COVID-19, international media reported. While talking to Australian media, David Peterson, Research Director at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research said that the two dugs which were used for treating HIV and Malaria respectively stopped coronavirus in its tracks. He added that he was expecting a clinical trial on humans to begin soon. 

Could be administered as oral tablets 

According to international media, one of the drugs was Chloroquine which is used to treat Malaria. Talking further about the drug, Paterson said that the drug was tested on coronavirus patients in Australia who were later released after they completely recovered. He revealed that the newly discovered drug could be administered as oral tablets.

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He reportedly said that the researchers now want a large clinical trial across Australia and that they were looking at 50 hospitals for the purpose. He went on to say that they aimed to compare the new drug to the others as well as the combination of both the drugs before saying that he was hoping to enrol patients by March-end. 

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Talking about treatment in Australia, he said that he wanted to give Australian citizens the best treatment and not drugs based on “someone’s anecdotal experiences.” He added that the cases in the nation were going to increase and that the scientists wanted to make sure that they have the best possible information to treat the “subsequent patients.” He concluded by asserting that while the new COVID-19 medicines had successful outcomes in some patients, however,  it had not been tested in a controlled or a comparative manner. 

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This comes as Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on March 15 announced that anyone arriving into the country would face a mandatory quarantine period of 14 days in a bid to contain COVID-19. Morrison said that the citizens will have to get used to “some changes in the way we live our lives” and added that the measure will come into effect from 1300 GMT Sunday.