Gilead joins GSK, J&J in offering coronavirus vaccine options

With the death toll in China topping 425, the coronavirus, now officially classified as a global health threat by the World Health Organisation (WHO), is showing no signs of slowing down. More than 20,000 cases have been confirmed around the world, with more than 20 nations reporting cases – some involving locals who had not even travelled to China. The pharma industry has been rallying together in a joint effort to develop a vaccine for the virus, which is also known as 2019-nCoV or Wuhan coronavirus. Gilead is the latest industry giant to lend a hand, providing doses of remdesivir (GS-5734) – initially developed to fight the Ebola crisis - to doctors for the emergency treatment of "a small number of patients" who have contracted the potentially deadly disease.