The race to find a COVID-19 vaccine – WRBL

(CBS)- With no vaccine yet for COVID-19, a worldwide effort is underway to find medications that target the virus and treat the symptoms. But proper drug testing takes time and patience.

Sometime in the summer, well start to see which are working, which are not, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Drugs under consideration include the experimental drug Remdesivir, originally designed for Ebola.. and Hydroxychloroquine, approved to treat malaria.

Northwell Health is testing the rheumatoid arthritis drug Kevzara, made by Regeneron, to see if it can dampen severe inflammation caused by the virus inflammation that ends up damaging the lungs.

My breathing was so difficult to that point, I felt like I was drowning, said Dr. Anar Yukhayev. Dr. Yukhayev is an OBGYN and the trials first patient.

The only question that I had really, for the doctors were, If you were in my place, would you do this? And without hesitation, both of them said Yes.

As part of the trials design, patients are randomly assigned either the drug or a placebo. That allows researchers to compare outcomes.

Genentech has launched a trial for Actemra, another anti-inflammatory.

The nature of this crisis has really caused us to work with, in many cases, breakneck speed to get this clinical trial conceived and approved, said Dr. Levi Garraway, Chief Medical Officer at Genentech.

Im just thankful to God that Im actually sitting here right now. Said Dr. Yukhayev.

Right now, critically ill patients are getting a cocktail of experimental drugs in a desperate attempt to save them. These clinical studies are crucial to figuring out what actually works.

See more here:

The race to find a COVID-19 vaccine - WRBL