US working with drug firm on new coronavirus treatment

The United States is working with a pharmaceutical company to develop a treatment for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, using a class of drug that has boosted survival rates among Ebola patients, officials said.

The partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Regeneron will develop monoclonal antibodies to fight the infection, a different line of treatment to the antiretrovirals and flu drugs that have also emerged as possible defences against the disease.

Nearly 500 people have died as a result of the virus since it emerged in a Chinese live seafood and wild animal market at the end of last year.

"Emerging infectious diseases can present serious threats to our nation's health security," said Rick Bright, an official at the HHS.

"Working as public-private partners like we have with Regeneron since 2014, we can move rapidly to respond to new global health threats."