BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The following is a summary of published science and technology news of China.

ANTIVIRAL DRUG REMDESIVIR

The registration for clinical trials on the antiviral drug Remdesivir has been approved, and the first batch of pneumonia patients infected by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) are expected to start taking the drug on Thursday, according to an official conference Wednesday.

Remdesivir is a drug developed by Gilead Sciences, an American pharmaceutical company. The drug has shown good antiviral activity against SARS and MERS coronavirus in previous cell and animal experiments. Its clinical trials against Ebola infections have been conducted abroad. In related domestic research, it has also shown fairly good antiviral activity against the 2019-nCoV at the cellular level.

A total of 761 patients have been enrolled in the trials, which will adopt a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study method.

ANTI-MALARIA DRUG

Chinese researchers have found that anti-malaria drug chloroquine can effectively inhibit the novel coronavirus infection in vitro.

Chloroquine, a widely used anti-malaria and autoimmune disease drug, has been known to block virus infections by changing the acidity and basicity value inside the cell and interfering receptors of SARS coronavirus.

In the latest study, chloroquine shows an antiviral effect at both the entry and post-entry stages of the novel coronavirus infection in Vero E6 cells.

Chloroquine also shows immune-modulating activity in the study, which may enhance its antiviral effect in vivo.

LONG MARCH-5B CARRIER ROCKET

China's Long March-5B carrier rocket arrived at the launch site in southern China's Hainan Province Wednesday after a week of ocean and rail transport, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The rocket will take part in a joint rehearsal with the prototype of the Chinese space station's core module at the Wenchang Space Launch Center. It is scheduled to make its maiden flight and launch the prototype of China's new manned spaceship in April.

HYDROGEN PRODUCTION FROM INDUSTRIAL WASTE

Chinese researchers have developed a new method to produce hydrogen from the industrial waste of sulfureted hydrogen.

The electrocatalytic decomposition of abundant and toxic sulfureted hydrogen from industrial byproducts is a promising energy conversion technology for hydrogen production as the environmental pollutants can be simultaneously removed.

The researchers reported a remarkable graphene-encapsulated metal catalyst for highly efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen production from sulfureted hydrogen. The optimized catalyst delivered almost twice the current density than that of the platinum-carbon catalyst. Enditem

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