Some existing antiviral drugs are currently being tested on patients infected with Covid-19.
The purpose of these tests is to determine whether they are effective against Covid-19.
WHO, the World Health Organization, as well as European states are launching large-scale trials. Luxembourg will participate.
It’s a race against time: developing a vaccine or a brand new drug takes time.
Repurposing could provide a faster solution, a new direction. This involves testing drugs already used for other purposes to determine if they have an effect against Covid-19.
They could save the lives of infected patients but also participate in prevention, for example with health personnel.
It is within this framework that the WHO launched the “Solidarity” project, which will allow large-scale clinical trials of promising therapies to be carried out.
Europe has also started testing four experimental treatment methods.
France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Spain and Luxembourg are participating in the “Discovery” project. A total of 3,200 patients hospitalized because of the coronavirus will be treated.
In particular, drugs developed against HIV and against Ebola will be tested.
We do not yet know how this will happen in Luxembourg.
In recent days there has also been a lot of talk about Chloroquine, which is used against malaria. Trials are being carried out with this active substance in patients infected with Covid-19 in several places around the world.
A French doctor from Marseille announces good results and considers that this drug helps against Covid-19.
Large pharmaceutical groups, such as Novartis or Sanofi, have it in large quantities.
However, many researchers warn of the risks. The data currently available would not be sufficient.
The “repurposing” is not obvious, even if these drugs have already passed certain stages of testing.
The effects of these substances when used against Covid-19 must be precisely analyzed and the clinical criteria must be strictly observed.
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