Look for novel coronavirus treatments first, experts say, and vaccines are further off than you thi…

What’s the outlook for really fending off the novel coronavirus? Small molecule drugs and other therapeutics will obviously beat vaccines to market, and Gilead’s remdesivir, if effective, could scale up fast, experts said.

Vaccines are likely further off than quoted timelines suggest. It’s “overly optimistic” to expect them in 12 to 18 months, two opinion leaders told SVB Leerink analyst Geoffrey Porges.

They’re “relatively optimistic” about Gilead’s remdesivir “being effective and rapidly scaled to global demand for severe patients,” the analyst wrote in a note to clients.