A drug has been registered in America against Covid-19, or corona disease. Actor Tom Hanks gives his blood for corona. Will that help us? An overview of the drugs currently being tested.
The Antibiotic Policy Working Group Foundation (abbreviation: ‘SWAB’) gives doctors advice on the treatment of infectious diseases, and now also with corona disease. This SWAB has all the medicines against corona disease organised. The list of medicines against corona disease includes virus inhibitors, medicines that worked against previous SARS outbreaks and medicines that were effective in a test tube against the new coronavirus SARS-cov-2. Is there a good medicine for that?
Malaria drugs are disappointing
The malaria drugs chloroquine and the similar hydroxychloroquine were active against the corona virus in test tubes. That is why, until recently, these agents were recommended for corona disease, also in the Netherlands. That is no longer the case. The main reasons: the means do not work or hardly work with covid. Second problem: they have serious side effects. At least one in ten people even develop serious heart problems. The heart rhythm goes out of control. Corona disease itself is also associated with heart problems, so people cannot have these heart problems due to the drug. At most in a research context, chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine is still an option, the SWAB advises.
Remdesivir as an emergency drug
Remdesivir is a virus inhibitor designed against Ebola. The drug had not yet been approved for that purpose, it was still being developed as a medicine. In a test tube, remdesivir works against the new coronavirus. The manufacturer therefore made it available as an emergency aid for patients. Some figures have been published about this use as an emergency tool. These figures paint a mixed picture – the results are sometimes positive, sometimes disappointing. But the studies still don’t provide enough information to draw conclusions. So we do not know whether remdesivir is effective and safe in people with corona disease. Still, the US FDA has already decided to register it with an urgent procedure. This step has not yet been taken in Europe.
Lopinavir/ritonavir disappoints
This combination of virus inhibitors is used in HIV under the name Kaletra. With HIV, the drug was already on the decline, because it causes terrible diarrhea and many interactions with other drugs. In the previous SARS outbreak, Kaletra was effective if you got it early enough. That is why it is also being tested for the new coronavirus. Unfortunately, the results are disappointing. It hardly works and the patients get severe diarrhoea, just like the HIV patients, which is also not conducive to recovery.
immune system
In addition to these agents, many drugs are also being tested that help the immune system to tackle the coronavirus. Antibodies against certain parts of the immune system, anticytokine therapy, corticosteroids and interferon to name a few examples. Unfortunately, no effective remedy has been found there either, but the studies are continuing.
Other resources
There are other virus inhibitors, such as ribavarin, which is known as a remedy for hepatitis C. However, with corona disease you would have to use so much of the medicine that the side effects overshadow the positive effects. The same goes for favipiravir and darunavir. Oseltamivir, known as flu medicine, unfortunately does nothing with the corona virus.
The high blood pressure drugs such as ACE inhibitors and AT II antagonists also have no influence on the coronavirus, either positively or negatively. Zinc is sometimes recommended on social media. But unfortunately: the scientific literature does not support this, according to SWAB.
Tom Hanks’ Antibodies
Anyone who overcomes corona disease makes antibodies against the virus. You can ‘harvest’ these antibodies from patients who have recovered from the coronavirus. Those antibodies can serve as medicine for someone who is still fighting the virus. At least, that’s what the doctors hope, because it hasn’t been properly researched yet. Actor Tom Hanks and his wife have had corona, and then donated their blood so scientists could extract antibodies from it. Experiments are also underway with this therapy in the Netherlands. It is also known as ‘plasma therapy’. Erasmus MC is now conducting research into this. The Leiden LUMC is now also starting such a study. Again too early to cheer, but interesting to follow.
Survey with surveys
And that actually applies to all medicines that may now have an effect in covid – doctors can only give it in a research context, because no medicine has yet proven its effect. The GP organization NHG is also brief about it – no, there is no cure for corona disease yet. The experimental treatments with drugs are intended for people who are in hospital due to serious corona disease. Which drugs are being studied there? That is what the Federation of Medical Specialists keeps track of in this overview.
A vaccine against the coronavirus would be even better. How far is it with that? Read here how it is.
