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(Reuters) – At least 10 different drug compounds ranging from cancer therapies to antipsychotics and antihistamines may be effective in preventing the new coronavirus from multiplying in the body, according to a multidisciplinary study by a team of scientists in the United States. and France.
The researchers mapped the human proteins the virus interacts with inside the body when it infects cells and makes copies of itself, then looked for compounds that could block the virus’ use of those proteins.
The result showed that 47 compounds in cell cultures had the desired effect, at least 10 of which are already in approved drugs or under study for various conditions, but could be reused against COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
Researchers have been quick to develop experimental therapies as well as reuse existing drugs to treat patients with COVID-19, and communities are pinning high hopes on Gilead Sciences Inc’s experimental antiviral drug, remdesivir.
In the new study, published in the journal Nature here on Thursday, candidates for reuse included ingredients for allergy medications, including clemastine, the antipsychotic haloperidol, and the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine.
The study also revealed why hydroxychloroquine is often found to have toxic effects on the heart.
The anti-malarial drug, which has been repeatedly touted by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, binds to a receptor on human cells, which the virus needs to infect the cell.
But hydroxychloroquine also affects a particular protein in heart tissue, which could explain the drug’s effect on heart rhythms, a side effect recently pointed out by US health regulators. USA And the EU.
The team also found that an experimental chemical, PB28, was 20 times more powerful than hydroxychloroquine at targeting the receptor, but had far less affinity for the heart protein.
The hormone progesterone was also found to work against the virus, which could shed some light on why men appear to be more susceptible to COVID-19 and more frequently experience serious complications.
Another compound with antiviral activity was plitidepsin, used in Madrid-based PharmaMar’s experimental cancer therapy Aplidin, which is currently being tested in COVID-19 trials in Spain.
“Some of our drugs and compounds are many times more potent than remdesivir, at least in a laboratory,” study author Nevan Krogan of the University of California, San Francisco said at a press conference.
Gilead’s remdesivir may be closest to regulatory approval after initial results from Wednesday’s trial found that the drug helped patients recover more quickly.
The team said it would continue to test the candidates they have identified and would use the same methods to further study the biology of the disease for more information.
