Speeding up the cure

Drug regulators must work to compress timeline for trials

There is every reason to believe that the only real solution to the problem of the novel coronavirus is the development of an effective and accessible vaccine. Other forms of intervention are of course important. The ongoing national lockdown, as method of enforcing social distance and thus reducing the rate of transmission of the infection, is one such method. But it can only slow transmission and not stop it. The development and utilisation of therapeutic responses to the infection is also important. But such medicines and therapy can only address the disease and not prevent it. Until a vaccine is