The Race to Develop a Coronavirus Treatment in 60 Days

This rapid response team has been preparing for a pandemic for years. Now, they’re developing a treatment for COVID-19 at breakneck speed. Here’s how. »Subscribe to Seeker! http://bit.ly/subscribeseeker »Watch more Focal Point | https://bit.ly/2s0cf7w » Visit our shop at http://shop.seeker.com As the novel coronavirus outbreak switched from epidemic to global pandemic, and COVID-19 continued to sweep across the globe, a team launched back in 2017 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been working tirelessly toward safely developing an antibody therapy that can provide immediate immunity to the virus. To find out more about this rapid pandemic response, we spoke with Dr. James Crowe, the Director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center, who is a part of this special team of experts, universities, and advanced genetic sequencing groups who are trained to deliver rapid treatments in the midst of an outbreak. While drug programs typically take years, a decade even, the goal of the Pandemic Prevention Program, or P3, is to be able to treat people just 60 days later when an epidemic occurs. In a simulation last year, the team was able to complete the timeline in approximately 78 days, but with coronavirus continuing to spread, the team has switched from simulation to reality. Find out more about P3 and the work experts are doing to respond to COVID-19 as quickly as possible in this Focal Point. #pandemic #covid19 #responseteam #globalhealth #seeker #science #focalpoint Read More: DARPA Races To Create a “Firebreak” Treatment for the Coronavirus https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/bionics/darpas-firebreak-treatment-for-the-coronavirus “The P3 program’s plan was to start with a new pathogen and to ‘develop technology to deliver medical countermeasures in under 60 days—which was crazy, unheard of,’ says Jenkins.” DARPA Aims To Have Coronavirus Therapy Shortly After Outbreak's Start https://www.npr.org/2020/02/14/805934975/darpa-a