Iranian research center developing vaccine, drugs for coronavirus

A major Iranian research center is developing drugs as well as a vaccine for coronavirus as the infection continues to spread across the country despite massive government efforts for containment.

Chancellor of the Baqiyatallah Medical Sciences University (BMSU) said on Sunday that three research teams in the academic center were working on treatments for coronavirus, adding that one of the groups had already come up with a drug that could be used to cure the illness.

“One of the drugs has passed laboratory tests and we hope we could gain a positive result in the clinical stage,” said Brigadier General Alireza Jalali, who leads the military-funded BMSU.

Jalali said that Iranian researchers were also working on a coronavirus vaccine that would be based on the human genetic material.

He expressed hope that the vaccine would be developed within less than a year to help Iran and other countries to prevent the spread of the virus.