US APPROVES FIRST
CRISPR TEST FOR
CORONAVIRUSThe US drug regulator has
granted its first emergency-use
approval for a new coronavirus
test that takes advantage of
the gene-editing technology
CRISPR.
The US Food and Drug
Administration’s emergency-
use authority allows it to make
tests and drugs available faster
than usual in a public-health
emergency. The new diagnostic
kit is based on an approach
co-developed by CRISPR
pioneer Feng Zhang at the Broad
Institute of MIT and Harvard in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. It
will be used to test for the new
coronavirus behind the ongoing
pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, in
laboratories that are certified to
provide clinical tests.
Although the United States
has ramped up testing in the
past two weeks — averaging
nearly 250,000 tests per day,
according to the non-profit
organization The COVID
Tracking Project — there are
test shortages in some places.
Widespread use of the new kit
approved by the Food and Drug
Administration could help to
alleviate backlogs and increase
testing, says Mitchell O’Connell,
a biochemist at the University
of Rochester in New York, who
was not involved in developing
the test.
The kit has been developed
by Sherlock Biosciences
in Cambridge. It works by
programming the CRISPR
machinery, which has the ability
to home in on certain genetic
sequences, to detect a snippet
of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material
in a nose, mouth or throat swab,
or in fluid from the lungs. If the
virus’s genetic material is found,
a CRISPR enzyme generates a
fluorescent glow. The test can
return results in about an hour,
according to the company.The Chinese government is
heavily promoting traditional
medicines as treatments for
COVID-19. The remedies, a major
part of China’s health-care
system, are even being sent to
countries including Iran and
Italy as international aid. But
scientists outside China say it is
dangerous to support therapies
that have yet to be proved safe
and effective.
There are currently no proven
treatments for the deadly
respiratory disease caused by
the new coronavirus, although
many countries are trialling
existing and experimental
drugs. So far, only one treatment
— the antiviral remdesivir — has
been shown, in randomized
control trials, to have some
potential to speed up recovery.
In China, senior government
officials and the state media are
pushing a range of traditional
Chinese medicines (TCMs) as
being effective at alleviating
symptoms and reducing deaths.
However, there are no rigorous
trial data to show that the
remedies work.
Although the efficacy of some
TCM remedies for COVID-19 isbeing tested, some researchers
say the trials have not been
rigorously designed and are
unlikely to produce reliable
results. Government officials
and TCM practitioners deem
the remedies safe because many
have been used for thousands of
years, but some significant side
effects have been reported.
“We are dealing with a serious
infection which requires
effective treatments. For TCM,
there is no good evidence, and
therefore its use is not just
unjustified, but dangerous,” says
Edzard Ernst, a UK-based retired
researcher into complementary
medicines.
Other world leaders
have promoted unproven
treatments. US President
Donald Trump has pushed the
use of hydroxychloroquine,
an antimalarial drug with
significant potential side
effects. And the president of
Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina,
has claimed that a herbal drink
can cure people. But those
leaders’ claims have been
criticized by scientists in their
countries. By contrast, in China,
criticism of TCM is muted.SCIENTISTS SUPPORT
SCANDAL-HIT
EPIDEMIOLOGISTScientists have rallied behind a
UK government adviser on the
coronavirus who resigned last
week after revelations about
his private life. Neil Ferguson,
an influential epidemiologist at
Imperial College London, left
the UK government’s Scientific
Advisory Group for Emergencies
(SAGE) following media
reports that he contravened UK
lockdown rules when a woman
he was in a relationship with
visited him. Ferguson’s team did
some of the modelling that led to
the UK lockdown on 23 March.
“I deeply regret any undermining
of the clear messages around
the continued need for social
distancing,” Ferguson told
The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Researchers say that, despite
Ferguson’s error, the incident
highlights the scrutiny that
scientists face during the
pandemic. In an open letter,
26 scientists say that Ferguson’s
resignation has prompted
efforts to discredit the scientific
basis of policies such as
lockdown. These, in turn, fuel
a misconception that a single
scientist is behind coronavirus
policies, they say, whereas in
reality many experts contribute.
Many lament Ferguson’s
departure from SAGE. “He
shouldn’t have had to resign,”
says Kieron Flanagan, a
science-policy researcher at the
University of Manchester, UK.
The government has lost a very
L TO R: IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON; CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA/SHUTTERSTOCKcompetent voice, he says.
CHINA IS PROMOTING UNPROVEN
CORONAVIRUS TREATMENTSNature | Vol 581 | 14 May 2020 | 125The world this week
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