Thailand joins WHO's project for antiviral drugs
Thailand has agreed to join 'Solidarity Trail' , a project organised and sponsored by The World Health Organisation (WHO) in search for antiviral drugs against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The WHO said on Wednesday (March 18) that it would launch a multi-arm, multi-country clinical trial for potential coronavirus therapies, part of an aggressive effort to jumpstart the global search for drugs to treat Covid-19, said government spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat today (March 19).
Ten countries have already indicated their willingness to take part in the trial - Argentina, Bahrain, Canada, France, Iran, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, and Thailand.
The drugs that will be under study include antiviral drug Remdesivir, a combination of two HIV drugs - lopinavir-ritonavir and lopinavir-ritonavir, and the antimalarial drug chloroquine. A couple of small studies have shown that these drugs offer hopes. But “multiple small trials with different methodologies may not give us the clear strong evidence we need about which treatments help to save lives,” said WHO director Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva.
All partner countries will compare and evaluate untested treatments, he added.