UK antiviral drug could be rolled out in coming weeks - FT28 Sep 2021 08:50
Some very interesting comments potentially for Sareum shareholders in the FT from Steve Bates, chief executive of the UK’s BioIndustry Association and a former member of Britain’s vaccines task force.
The FT article says that Bates would be “unsurprised” to see at least one antiviral drug ready to be rolled out in the coming weeks, potentially under an “emergency use authorisation”, through which products yet to win full regulatory approval can be made available during a public health crisis.
Could this be SDC1801 via Agile? If so, we are on our way to Thoth2's £1 a share.
The rest of the FT article, summarised below, also said that “People may have to adjust their expectations of how transformative this category of medicines will be”..
Efficacy levels might be far lower than the public had come to expect from the vaccines, Bates warned. “Because of this problem of when you administer them, it’s almost impossible to get a really good result statistically. And if you get an antiviral that works at 40 per cent, I think that will be brilliant,” he said.
In April Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, established an antivirals task force, modelled on the country’s successful vaccines task force.
He pledged “to have at least two effective treatments this year, either in a tablet or capsule form” that could be taken at home following a positive test or exposure to someone with the virus. But as yet there has been no word from the task force and its leader, pharmaceutical industry veteran Eddie Gray, on whether that target will be met.
The UK health department said there were “a number of exciting opportunities in the pipeline” and promised to provide “further details in due course”.
Good luck, Brighty