The boss of biotech Mesoblast, which hopes to treat respiratory issues caused by COVID-19, has warned the virus will linger even if a vaccine is found
Mesoblast chief Dr Silviu Itescu has warned Australians must not become complacent about the coronavirus threat even if a successful vaccine is discovered.
The company's Remestemcel-L product will be evaluated in a trial of 240 patients with COVID-19 to test its effectiveness in treating acute respiratory distress syndrome. This can occur after the body's immune system has an excessive response to the virus, called a cytokine storm, which in turn results in damage to lung tissue.
The thinking is that those with acute respiratory distress syndrome have similarities in terms of the inflammation response seen in those with acute graft-versus-host disease. It will take around three months to recruit patients for the trial but there should be some indications of the treatment's effectiveness as early as July, he said.
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