Science News Roundup: Does drug touted by Trump work on COVID-19?; Tyson the alpaca takes heavyweight role in search for coronavirus vaccine and more


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 06-06-2020 18:46 IST | Created: 06-06-2020 18:28 IST
Science News Roundup: Does drug touted by Trump work on COVID-19?; Tyson the alpaca takes heavyweight role in search for coronavirus vaccine and more
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Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Does drug touted by Trump work on COVID-19? After data debacle, we still don't know

Scientists are resuming COVID-19 trials of the now world-famous drug hydroxychloroquine, as confusion continues to reign about the anti-malarial hailed by U.S. President Donald Trump as a potential "game-changer" in fighting the pandemic. The renewed research push follows widespread criticism of the quality of data in a study that on Thursday was retracted. The article, originally published in the influential medical journal The Lancet, had found high risks associated with the treatment.

Tyson the alpaca takes heavyweight role in search for coronavirus vaccine

Scientists in Sweden are hoping an alpaca named Tyson can help deliver a knockout blow in the fight to develop a treatment or vaccine against the novel coronavirus that has killed nearly 400,000 people worldwide. After immunizing Tyson, a 12-year-old alpaca in Germany, with virus proteins, the team at the Karolinska Institute have isolated tiny antibodies known as nanobodies from his blood that bind to the same part of the virus as human antibodies and could block the infection.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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