3:00 pm
Saturday 03 October 2020
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Books – Mr. Metwally:
Scientists, during a new study, have found an antiviral drug that effectively prevents the recurrence of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, and at the same time fights the immune reaction that kills Corona patients around the world.
This discovery is the hope of a group of researchers headed by Christian Canstrup Holm and David Olgener who are behind a new study recently published in the journal Nature Communications, according to “medicalxpress”.
The study showed that a drug called dimethyl fumarate (DMF), which is approved to treat patients with multiple sclerosis, prevents the growth of a group of viruses in the body’s cells, including the Corona virus (SARS-CoV2) – which the researchers tested in a test tube.
“It is clear that we do not know if the drug works to fight infection in humans, and it is up to the infectious disease experts to test this,” says Christian Kanstrup Holm, lead study leader, and colleague David Olgner, associate professor in the Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University, Denmark. That, I must say I am very optimistic. “
Current research results have been underway for a while now, when the epidemic spread, Christian Kanstrup Holm and his colleagues were testing the effects of a drug that was nearly identical to a specific drug for sclerotherapy, that is, a substance called 4-octyl-itaconate, which is used for example, the herpes virus and the smallpox virus (the vaccine) Viral) and the Zika virus, which is also known to lead to fetal defects – all as part of the search for an antiviral drug, and their testing passed beyond expectations.
“The Corona virus appeared suddenly, which we also tested, and we saw a tremendous effect,” explains Christian Canstrope Holm.
He adds: “At the same time, the drug dampened the immune reaction or inflammatory condition that constitutes a large part of the actual threat to patients with Coronavirus, as people not only die because of the virus itself, but also because of the inflammation that occurs in the lungs.”
When the research group saw the encouraging results with 4-octyl-itaconate, they repeated the tests with an approved product, dimethyl fumarate (DMF), which showed almost the same inhibitory effect.
This means that the effect of dimethyl fumarate (DMF) can be tested on Corona patients now, in Denmark or abroad, and the company that holds the patent is ready to test it in human trials.
“You can really save a lot of time when testing a drug that has already been approved and is being tested in another context,” says Christian Kanstrup Holm, referring to the legal stages of getting a drug approved from the start.
He adds: “I would likely be associated with this type of clinical trial if there were infectious disease researchers who estimate that the result is worth pursuing. As a researcher, I do not have access to patients, nor am I qualified to take a test.”
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