The VirPath laboratory in Lyon specializes in “repositioning” of drugs from a decade. The principle: draw on the already existing pharmacopoeia and “exploit the side effects”. Since the debate on the crisis, the laboratory has been looking for already existing molecules capable of effectively fighting against the coronavirus. The researchers of this laboratory work in particular with a “chemotheque” composed of nearly 1500 main drugs, commonly used in the world against other pathologies but which could have an effect on Covid-19.
“The idea is to go look – in the medicine cabinet somehow – for the drugs that already exist on the market and see which drug can be used to treat the infections caused by this coronavirus,” explains Olivier Terrier, CNRS researcher – VirPath Laboratory.
The laboratory also performs tests with Covid 19 on cells of our respiratory system, on cells that are specifically targeted by the virus.
“It is in these respiratory cells that the virus will replicate and spread throughout the pulmonary system,” explains Manuel Rosa-Calatrava, INSERM Research Director – Virpath Laboratory.
After six weeks of research, VirPath scientists have identified a drug that acts on these respiratory cells. By stimulating them, they become more resistant to the invasion of Covid 19. Efficacy could be increased by combining the drug with conventional antiviral treatment.
“Our results today allow us to offer a combination of drugs that have been repositioned and that target the cell with the classic antiviral Remdesivir,” explains Manuel Rosa-Calatrava, “This combination seems to work with significant antiviral gain.”
“We worked seven days a week and today we identified a drug, already on the market, which has a therapeutic identification having nothing to do with the anti-infective, and we repositioned it against Covid- 19, “said Manuel Rosa-Calatrava this afternoon.
The VirPath Laboratory has made a request to the French health authorities in order to be able to quickly launch a clinical trial for patients hospitalized in serious condition. An essay that would be piloted in Lyon.
It would be “to evaluate a combination of our repositioned drug with Remdesivir, to evaluate it in patients who are in intensive care and who need treatment. ” Who would this therapeutic treatment be aimed at? “To patients whose vital prognosis is engaged, for whom no validated treatment, from a pre-clinical or clinical point of view, is available,” specifies the researcher.
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