Clinical trials for the treatment of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A rapid response to urgent need

Clinical trial for COVID-19 was first registered on January 23, 2020. In the last few weeks, an escalating number of clinical trials has been planned and registered with ongoing investigations taking place. From the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (http://www.chictr.org.cn) and U.S. National Library of Medicine Clinical Trial Registry (https://clinicaltrials. gov), there are 125 clinical trials registered by February 18, 2020, focusing on the treatment of COVID-19. There is an upward trend on the number of registered clinical trials (Figure 1). Among the 125 clinical trials on treatment, 33.3% used anti-viral agents, 14.7% anti-inflammation or immunomodulators, 33.3% herbs or traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), 9.3% cell-based therapy, 2.3% antioxidation and 7.0% other approaches. Pharmaceutical companies, government, institutions, physicians and scientists are the main force behind these researches. 17 years ago (2003), SARS affectedAU - Zhang, Tengyue