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Amid emerging coronavirus variants, the “direction of the future” will be to develop “potent antivirals” that act directly on the SARS-CoV-2 virus, Dr Anthony Fauci said on Monday. Fauci, who was attending the White House COVID-19 briefing, said the nation should address therapies similar to the “very successful HIV and hepatitis C drug development program.”
To do this, Fauci said work should be done on identifying vulnerable targets in the SARS-CoV-2 replication cycle.
“This is going to be the direction of the future,” he said, adding later that the FDA also released updated guidelines on Monday for developers of medical products, including those who make vaccines, drugs. therapies and testing to address concerns of variants.
FDA ADDRESSES CORONAVIRUS VARIANTS IN UPDATED GUIDES FOR MEDICAL DEVELOPERS
Fauci said that while several therapies have already received authorization for emergency use, there is still work to be done, especially to treat advanced disease. Currently approved therapies generally rely on early intervention for the best results.
The briefing took place before a minute of silence led by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the nearly 500,000 Americans killed by the virus. CDC director Dr Rochelle Walensky said the progress the nation is seeing in lowering rates of new cases and hospitalizations has been offset by this grim milestone.
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“Although the pandemic is headed in the right direction, we still have a lot of work to do,” she said, including getting students back to in-person teaching in a safe manner.
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