World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gestures during a press briefing on evolution of new coronavirus epidemic on Jan 29, 2020 in Geneva. (FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP)

GENEVA / Beijing - The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that preliminary results from clinical trials of therapeutics against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) are expected in three weeks.

"We're also looking forward to results from two clinical trials of therapeutics prioritized by the WHO R&D Blueprint," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a daily briefing.

Of the two WHO trials, one is the combination of two drugs for HIV, lopinavir and ritonavir, the other is testing an antiviral called remdesivir

In Beijing, senior National Health Commission official said Friday that Chinese scientists are racing to develop vaccines by adopting five technological approaches.

The approaches include inactivated vaccines, genetic engineering subunit vaccines, adenovirus vector vaccines, nucleic acid vaccines, and vaccines using attenuated influenza virus as vectors.

Of the two WHO trials, one is the combination of two drugs for HIV, lopinavir and ritonavir, the other is testing an antiviral called remdesivir. "We expect preliminary results in three weeks," the WHO chief said.

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Remdesivir is a drug developed by US pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. It has shown good antiviral activity against SARS and MERS coronavirus in previous cell and animal experiments.

It has also shown fairly good antiviral activity against the COVID-19 at the cellular level. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of remdesivir started on Feb. 6 in several hospitals in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, and the trial will last until the end of April.

A study published in 2004 showed the anti-HIV drug combination of Lopinavir and Ritonavir has "substantial clinical benefit" when given to patients who had SARS. The Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, where the first 41 known patients were treated, has already launched a randomized, controlled trial of the anti-HIV drug combination, according to a report by Chinese researchers in the Lancet medical journal late last month.

The National Health Commission said on Friday scientists are racing to develop vaccines by adopting five technological approaches

The third version of COVID-19 treatment guidelines published by China's National Health Commission suggested that taking two Lopinavir/Ritonavir pills and inhaling a dose of nebulized alpha-interferon twice a day could benefit patients.  

"Some projects have entered the stage of animal testing," Zeng Yixin, deputy director of National Health Commission, told a press conference on China's fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak.

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 "Under the premise of ensuring safety, effectiveness and accessibility (of vaccines), (we) foresee that as soon as from April to May this year some vaccines could enter clinical trials, or under specific conditions, could be applied for emergency use," Zeng said.

 "Our goal is that if required by the outbreak situation, the emergency use of vaccines, as well as the emergency review and approval process, can be activated in accordance with laws," the official said.