A Saudi government official announced that two labs in the Kingdom were carrying out research for potential vaccines for the novel coronavirus, which has infected more than 25,000 people in Saudi Arabia.
Seven hospitals are carrying out lab tests for medicine that may treat patients infected with COVID-19, said Dr. Abdullah Asiri, Assistant Deputy Minister for Preventive Health at the Ministry of Health, during a press conference in Riyadh on Sunday.
He said that the Saudi clinical trial, whose launch was announced on Saturday, is aimed at testing a number of treatment protocols that have been proven effective in preliminary testing, whether at labs or in previous studies on volunteers.
The studies are part of a global alliance led by the World Health Organization and launched weeks ago in order to speed up research that could cure coronavirus patients, he said. He spoke of four protocols, three of which are antiviral drugs that were developed to treat various viruses and have a variety of uses.
It remains to be seen whether they will be effective against COVID-19, which is what persuaded Saudi Arabia to join the alliance, along with several other nations, to test these drugs, Asiri said.
He added that COVID-19 patients, who have developed respiratory infections and are admitted to one of the seven hospitals taking part in the study, will be entered into the clinical trial to determine how effective these drugs are.
The duration of the study will vary depending on how responsive the patients are to the treatment, he continued.
“We expect to receive preliminary results within a few weeks. They will help us determine whether these drugs are effective in treating the virus,” he stressed.
Several facilities are carrying out research outside the clinical trials, he revealed. They include the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Fahd Medical Research Center at King Abdulaziz University, Medical City at King Saud University and King Faisal Specialist Hospital.
Two labs are researching potential vaccines for COVID-19 and they have made strides in this regard, Asiri said. They are expected to contribute in the global effort to develop an effective vaccine for the virus.
