Monday, February 3, 2020

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Supporting Coronavirus Treatment Effort

San Diego-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals says that its technologies are being used by a number of its partners, including Gilead Sciences, for developing treatments for the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), the new virus which has caused major disruption in China and is currently threatening to cross into countries around the world. According to Ligand, its technologies have shown potential or general applicability in the antiviral or therapeutic antibody areas. Ligand's partner, Gilead Sciences, recently was used for treating the first case of 2019 novel coronavirus in the United States, using the drug remdesivir (GS-5734). The need for a treatment is extremely high for the 2019 novel coronavirus, which as of Sunday evening had 17,339 confirmed patients, 21,558 suspected patients, and 361 deaths--and had essentially shut down the entire country of China. The United States put in a Level 4 travel warning for China this weekend, and as of Sunday is prohibiting any foreigners who have visited China in the last 14 days from entering the United States, and are requiring Americans who traveled to the center of the outbreak, Hubei province, to be confined to quarantine for 14 days.