A team of scientists representing the Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IBMBB) at the University of Colombo claimed to have discovered of a set of drugs hypothesised to prevent the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The research team includes IBMBB scientists Dr Sameera R Samarakoon, Dr Kanishka Senathilake and Prof Kamani Thennekoon.
Speaking to EconomyNext, Samarakoon said that as to whether the drugs can be used for coronavirus treatment is “still a prediction”.
“It is still a prediction that these drugs approved by the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can be used as a treatment. We carried out research based on computer-based drug designing methods. We have not shared our findings with the scientific community yet,” he said.
Samarakoon and his colleagues plan to publish their findings in a scientific journal in the coming days.
Asked about the purported discovery, Chief Epidemiologist of the Epidemiology Unit Dr Sudath Samaraweera told EconomyNext that the Epidemiology Unit has yet to receive any information regarding the research.
According to the situation report issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday (19), a total of 75,204 coronavirus cases have been confirmed globally out of which 74,280 cases were reported from mainland China.
(Colombo/Feb20/2020)