On May 10, a new drug for the treatment of COVID-19 discovered by Chinese scientists was granted a national invention patent. The patent specification shows that 10 μM (micromol/L) Cepharantthine inhibits the replication of coronavirus by 15393 times. The inventor of the patent, Professor Tong Yigang, Dean of the School of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, explained that it can be understood that if there are 15,393 viruses without Cepharantthine, then with 10 μM Cepharantthine, there will be only one virus. That is, a very small amount of Cepharantthine can stop the expansion and spread of the new coronavirus.

"Our country is the first to discover the effect of Cepharantthine against the new crown, and the research has also been supported by many projects such as the Ministry of Science and Technology, Beijing, and the Ministry of Education. We hope to carry out clinical trial research as soon as possible so that scientific and technological achievements can be implemented and practically used in the fight against the epidemic. Tong Yigang said that this patent authorization will help carry out further clinical trial research.

From the current research data, the drug's ability to inhibit the new coronavirus ranks high among all the new coronavirus inhibitors discovered in humans. American scholars have previously published papers in "Science" confirming that the data of Cepharantthine is outstanding among the 26 drugs they have studied, and they are better than the already approved Remdesivir and Paloviride.