While several countries around the world have launched their vaccination campaign against Covid-19, the Institut Pasteur de Lille has developed a treatment that would prevent developing a serious form of the disease. This could be tested on humans as early as February.
An already known molecule
The Institut Pasteur de Lille is just waiting for the green light from the health authorities to start clinical trials in February. “We are very confident in the efficacy of the molecule,” said Xavier Nassir, director of the Institut Pasteur in Lille, to France Bleu Nord this Thursday, January 7. This medication should be taken in the form of a pill to swallow or a suppository, “from the first symptoms” to have “a bad cold but no more”. Taken later, it would prevent developing a severe form of Covid-19. At the end of September, the Institut Pasteur de Lille said it wanted to keep the name of the molecule secret to avoid any risk of frenzy. In an article from December 15, 2020, La Voix du Nord finally revealed the name of this active ingredient: Clofoctol, which is found in a suppository called Octofene, indicated in the treatment of benign respiratory infections.
Few side effects
Lille researchers have been working on this treatment since March 2020, with a start-up called Apteeus, a biotech specializing in the research and discovery of drugs from molecules already approved. In this case, this treatment comes from a molecule already known, “used for decades in France” before being deemed ineffective, continues Professor Xavier Nassir. In other words, the side effects are already known and do not worry the director of the Institut Pasteur de Lille. During October, this molecule was the subject of a preclinical study on macaques. If the health authorities give the green light, the results could be known as early as May. The work is financed thanks to a donation of 5 million euros made by LVMH at the beginning of the autumn.
