Scientists at the Pasteur Institute of Korea have discovered two potentially effective drugs for treating coronavirus.
Researchers took 48 drugs from among those already approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for other purposes. The fact is that the use of drugs already approved by the FDA allows you to quickly put them into operation.
According to scientists, it is the repositioning of drugs that is the only possible option for an immediate solution to the global problem of COVID-19, according to Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, the journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
The experiments were conducted on a standard model cell line isolated from African green monkey kidney cells, which are commonly used to grow viruses for vaccine production.
All 48 drugs were screened for the possibility of treating coronavirus infection. Of these, 24 potential candidate antiviral drugs against ARVI-2 infection were identified, but most showed very low micromolar IC50s.
As a result of the study, two drugs were identified that effectively affect the Covid-19 virus – niclosamide and cyclesonide.
Niclosamide is an anthelmintic (anthelmintic) agent, the antiviral activity of which was also noted against the SARS and MERS viruses. But it has a significant drawback – low absorption, which reduces the strength of the drug, while increasing the dosage increases the toxicity of the drug. Scientists conclude that niclosamide can be used if a method is found for delivering the drug directly to target cells.
Cyclesonide is an inhaled corticosteroid, it is used to treat asthma and allergic rhinitis, can be used as a weapon against viral protein and an effective anti-inflammatory agent.
“Anti-inflammatory activity can play a decisive role in attenuating the so-called cytokine storm, an excessive immune inflammatory response that often causes the death of patients with Covid-19,” the scientists said. How to modify this tool in order to purposefully use it against Covid-19 is the next task for researchers.
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