Medical trials investigating treatments for coronavirus could show results more quickly than efforts to produce a vaccine for the disease, a leading scientist says.
Professor Sharon Lewin, Director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity said on Monday there were "good leads" on treatments from some of the 300 or so clinical trials already underway of possible treatments for the disease, which has claimed more than 60 lives in Australia and more than 100,000 worldwide.
"I'm quite optimistic we will have results at least - whether the results will be good or not so good - from many clinical trials in the next few weeks," Professor Lewin said at a press conference with Health Minister Greg Hunt.
Drugs that could be used in treatment were targeted at two groups, stopping those in hospital from going into intensive care, or to stop death in those who were already very sick in intensive care. Both anti-viral drugs and drugs that modulate the immune system were being researched around the world.
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"The timeline for anti-viral drugs and knowing whether they work or not is much shorter than for vaccines, because these studies are using existing drugs, so we know their safety, we know how to use them," Professor Lewin said.
"We just don't know if they lead to clinical benefit."
While there have been reports of doctors prescribing anti-malarial drugs in hope of effectiveness against coronavirus, Professor Lewin said no drugs have yet been proven as effective.
"Very clear message from the Chief Medical Officer is that doctors should not be using unproven drugs outside of clinical trials," she said.
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