The first clinical trial for the treatment of novel coronavirus in the U.S has started, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on Tuesday.

The randomized trial includes coronavirus patients admitted at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha, Nebraska. Infected patients have been divided into two groups. While one group would be given an antiviral, others will be put on a placebo.

"A randomized, placebo-controlled trial is the gold standard for determining if an experimental treatment can benefit patients," said Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and U.S. Coronavirus Task Force member. 

At present, 14 people evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise docked in Japan are under observation at UNMC, 12 of them have been found infected with the novel coronavirus. One of the patients admitted to the hospital volunteered to become the first participant in the clinical trial.

With no approved medicine available to deal with the new strain of the coronavirus, research organizations and pharmaceutical giants are running against time to develop a safe antiviral. The epidemic has claimed more than 2,700 lives in China in the last one month. The virus is now spreading in other countries, including Italy and Iran.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), remdesivir is the only drug available that might prove useful in the treatment of COVID-19.

Manufactured by American bio-tech giant Gilead Sciences, the drug showed mild effectiveness in treating SARS and MERS caused by the same coronavirus family. It was also briefly used in the treatment of Ebola.

"We urgently need a safe and effective treatment for COVID-19," Fauci added. "Although remdesivir has been administered to some patients with COVID-19, we do not have solid data to indicate it can improve clinical outcomes."

Similar efforts are also underway in China to find an effective drug to control the epidemic. The country has initiated more than 80 clinical trials, which includes two placebo-controlled experiments of remdesivir. Around 760 coronavirus patients are participating in the trial to confirm the effectiveness of the drug.

Other drugs under the trial for the treatment of COVID-19 include lopinavir and ritonavir combination, used for HIV and malaria medicine chloroquine.  Both drugs are showing promising results, according to health officials.

(Top Image: A photographer takes photos near the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship anchored at a port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. /AP)