To fight against Covid-19, vaccination remains the first solution to be preferred. For the time being, the treatments are either symptomatic (fever, cough, runny nose, etc.) or intended for very specific forms of the disease. In April 2022, the WHO ruled in favor of giving Pfizer’s antiviral treatment Paxlovid – a combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir – to patients. suffering from a mild or moderate form of Covid-19 but being most at risk of hospitalization, for example unvaccinated, elderly or immunocompromised patients.
A treatment therefore targeting only a limited part of the population. And since then, no new treatment has been proposed against Covid-19. However, researchers at the California-based Scripps Research Institute may have found an unprecedented treatment for Covid-19, with a molecule that is not completely unknown.
In a study published on September 29, 2022 in the journal Nature Chemical Biologythe researchers explored the trail of anti-influenza type memantine. Used in the 1960s, these drugs were studied to treat neurological conditions after a woman with Parkinson’s symptoms were alleviated by taking them. “My team had improved these antiviral drugs for the brain and when Covid-19 appeared, we wondered if we had also, in the process, made any of them better antivirals”said Professor Stuart Lipton, lead professor of the study, in a communicated.
A molecule that blocks the virus
And it’s the compound called NMT5 which obtained the best results. It has two key properties: it can both recognize and attach to the surface of SARS-CoV-2, but also chemically modify human ACE2, the molecule on which the virus usually locks itself to infect cells. ‘body. “This means that when the virus is near, its path through human cells through the receptor is blocked”, continues the press release. Despite this, the ACE2 continues to function normally.
The drug would be effective against a dozen variant forms, including alpha, beta, gamma and delta strains as well as Omicron. “We expect this compound to continue to be effective even as new variants emerge, as it does not rely on attacking parts of the virus that typically mutate.”adds Chang-ki Oh, co-lead author.
Tested on the Omicron variant in cell culture, the molecule has avoided 95% of viral binding. In hamsters with Covid-19, NMT5 reduced virus levels 100-fold and improved inflammation. “The good thing about this drug is that we turn against the virus itself“, finished Professor Lipton. The development of a vaccine for humans is underway, including toxicity and efficacy tests.
Sources:
- Targeted protein S-nitrosylation of ACE2 inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection, Nature Chemical BiologySeptember 29, 2022
- New drug has potential to turn Covid-19 virus against itself, Scripps Research InstituteSeptember 29, 2022
