Taiwan’s top research body, Academia Sinica, announced on Thursday that it had successfully replicated remdesivir – an antiviral drug that has been eyed as a potential treatment for COVID-19. A team of seven scientists worked around the clock for two weeks to synthesize the drug.
Heading the team is Chein Rong-ji, an associate researcher for the Academia Sinica’s Institute of Chemistry. Chein said his team had to replicate the drug from scratch, due to a shortage of synthetic raw materials. He said they produced successfully replicated remdesivir with a purity level of 97%.
Academia Sinica, however, said that the drug will not be mass produced since it has not been clinically tested yet in the US. Officials from Academia Sinica said that in the future it will procure remdesivir from the US. However, if there is a global shortage, Taiwan can alleviate demand by synthesizing the drug through technology licensing.