VANCOUVER—Toronto’s Dr. Eleanor Fish knows there’s no proven treatment available for the novel coronavirus that’s infected thousands and killed hundreds in China over the past month, but when she read that country is trying interferon for patients, her heart leapt.

She says she believes it could be a game-changer, and not just for the coronavirus. The nod from China seemed to indicate that the treatment, which Fish has been studying for three decades and which she said she tried with good results in both SARS and Ebola patients, could be gaining attention globally.

“I continue to shout it from the rooftops: Those who are severely ill with this coronavirus should be receiving a daily dose of interferon,” Fish said. “I’m excited in the coming months to see what I hope will be positive outcomes.”

The best defence modern medicine offers to viruses is prevention in the form of vaccines.

But the immediate need to deal with outbreaks such as the novel coronavirus is pushing forward broad-spectrum antiviral medicines such as interferon as a potential short-term option.

The novel coronavirus that was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan has spread to 26 countries and prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a public health emergency.

The virus, which causes pneumonia, is new to doctors and researchers and does not have any proven treatments. Over the past several weeks, health agencies from around the world have been collaborating on attempts to create vaccines for the virus.

The WHO told the Star it is attempting to “accelerate access to medicines and vaccines” for patients with the virus.

“There are therapeutics under investigation, in the form of observational and clinical trials for MERS-CoV patients, which WHO is helping to coordinate with a range of partners,” the organization said in an email.

But Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said last week that, working as quickly as possible, scientists would likely be able to produce a vaccine in a year.

Tam said health authorities are working together on considering potential anti-viral remedies for the coronavirus, which would treat sick patients rather than prevent healthy people from getting the virus.

China’s government has issued a directive with guidance to that end, recommending doctors should try two different treatments.

One is the combination of drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS. The drugmaker, AbbVie, was quick to promote the concept of a clinical trial for coronavirus last week.

The other is interferon, which was used by a team of doctors on SARS in Toronto 17 years ago — the first time the treatment had been used on that coronavirus. Prior to that, it was used as a treatment for Hep-C.

The Chinese directive recommended two doses of inhaled interferon per day for coronavirus patients.

Fish described interferon as the body’s “first line of defence against all viruses.” It’s produced naturally and kicks off a number of immune responses that attack the virus.

“Not only does it directly inhibit the virus multiplying, but it also boosts the immune system,” Fish said. And it’s “broad spectrum,” meaning it works no matter if the virus is Zika, SARS, Ebola or this novel coronavirus.

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In 2003, Fish was the interferon expert on a team of doctors who tried the treatment on SARS patients in Toronto. Though they didn’t conduct a formal study, they found the patients given interferon got better quicker than those who weren’t.

When Ebola hit Guinea, Fish ran tests that showed equally encouraging results. Since then, the drug has also been tested on Middle East Respiratoy Syndrome, influenza and others. A study released this month by scientists from the Denison Lab in Nashville cited multiple examples of the drug’s effectiveness against a variety of viruses.

Fish has been advocating for a store of interferon to be kept as part of countries’ pandemic response plans.

“Then you will always have drugs, no matter what the outbreak is,” she said.

Though China’s directive is to try interferon, it’s not part of the global response to the virus. A spokesperson from Ontario’s Minstry of Health said that, absent specific anti-viral treatment recommendations, the confirmed coronavirus patients in Ontario should receive “supportive care.”

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