On Feb. 25, 2020, a University of British Columbia researcher was part of an international team working with a biotechnology company on a pilot clinical trial of a potential new treatment for patients with severe coronavirus infections in Guangzhou, China.

Dr. Josef Penninger, director of UBCﾒs Life Sciences Institute, worked closely with Vienna-based APEIRON Biologics on a randomized, dual-arm trial will treat 28 patients for seven days to determine whether APN01 treatment improves outcomes in patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease.