Three existing drugs have shown almost 100% effectiveness in the laboratory against Covid-19.
- These treatments would also act against the variants.
- The drugs in question are darapladib, which treats atherosclerosis, Flumatinib, a cancer drug, and an HIV drug.
- They target envelope protein and protein 3a.
This is the other battle horse against the virus. Alongside vaccines, researchers are working to discover drugs to fight Covid-19 in infected patients. In Israel, scientists have said they have found three highly effective drugs against the virus since laboratory tests on these already existing treatments have shown almost 100% effectiveness.
3 out of 3,000 drugs
The researchers brought the substances into contact with live SARS-CoV-2 cells and human cells in vitro. “Drugs can protect cells from virus attack with near 100% efficiency, which means that almost 100% of cells survived despite being infected by the virusfound Professor Isaiah Arkin, the Hebrew University biochemist behind the research, at Times of Israel. Under normal circumstances, around half of the cells would be dead within two days of contact with the virus..” These treatments would also act against the variants.
Before discovering these treatments, the researchers say they examined more than 3,000 drugs to determine if they were appropriate. “A needle in a haystack”, summarized Isaiah Arkin, who trails within a center of the Hebrew University specialized in the rehabilitation of existing drugs. The fact that these drugs already exist means that they can be used more quickly if their effectiveness is verified, because they have already undergone numerous tests attesting to their safety.
Spike protein not targeted
Being able to have treatment would be a new string to the bow in the fight against Covid. “We have the vaccine, but we must not rest on our laurels, and I would like these drugs to be part of the arsenal we use to fight the coronavirus”, adds Isaiah Arkin. The latter wishes to work with a pharmaceutical company so that the drugs he has identified are rapidly clinically tested.
The drugs in question are darapladib, which treats atherosclerosis, Flumatinib, a cancer drug, and an HIV drug. None of them target the Spike protein. They are targeting two other proteins: envelope protein and protein 3a. These have the advantage of not being modified according to the different variants, and even from one disease to another of the family of coronaviruses. “The envelope protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is about 95% identical to that of the first SARS epidemic of 2003, while the spike protein is less than 80% identical”, specifies Isaiah Arkin.
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