Treatment of Corona Virus(till date)
There are 3 approaches that can be
taken to treat the COVID-19.
1. To test the efficiency of drugs
that are already available.
2. To bring out a new drug which
are in their experimental phase.
3. To develop a new vaccine.
One by one we will discuss all the
three approaches
1)Drugs
available already –
A) Remdesivir
(Drug Bank id- DB14761)
This is the drug which was used
during EBOLA outbreak during 2016. Remdesivir, or GS-5734, is an adenosine
triphosphate analog. In 2017, its activity against the coronavirus family of
viruses was also demonstrated. Remdesivir is also being researched as a
potential treatment to SARS-CoV2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19.
It is assumed to act by inhibiting
the action of RNA Polymerase by getting incorporated into the RNA so that
additional nucleotides cannot be added, terminating the RNA Transcription.
Viruses which develops the resistance against the remdesivir have been shown
less infective.
Clinical trials are being carried
out on COVID-19 Patients by GILEAD SCIENCES. “In studying remdesivir, the
question is not just whether it is safe and effective against COVID-19 but in
which patients it shows activity, how long should they receive treatment and at
what stage of their disease would treatment be most beneficial,” wrote Daniel
O’Day, CEO of Gilead, the pharmaceutical manufacturer of remdesivir, in an open
letter last week. “Many answers are needed, which is why we need multiple types
of studies involving many types of patients. Some of these answers will start
to emerge in the coming weeks as we receive the first data from the various
clinical trials underway.”
B) Hydroxychloroquine (DB01611)-
Researchers from Intermountain
Healthcare and University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City are doing the
clinical trials of two drugs i.e. a) Hydroxychloroquine and B) Azithromycin
Hydroxychloroquine is an
anti-malarial drug which is also used to treat many auto-immune diseases.
Azithromycin is an anti-biotic. In several cases it has been found that the
drugs have helped in the improvement of the patient. But it is not confirmed.
It is planned by the researchers
to enroll at least 2300 patients.
The trial is divided into two parts:
-
a) In the first trial, patients
hospitalized with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 will be given either
hydroxychloroquine or azithromycin to determine whether either drug affects the
severity of COVID-19 and saves lives.
b) In the second set of trials,
patients with confirmed COVID-19 who are being treated as outpatients will be
given hydroxychloroquine or azithromycin to determine if either drug can
prevent hospitalization. The trials will also determine whether hydroxychloroquine
impacts viral shedding and prevents infection of household contacts as compared
to placebo.
Washington University School of
Medicine in St. Louis is also launching a clinical trial for patients
hospitalized with COVID-19 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
2. To bring
out a new drug which are in their experimental phase.
a) EIDD-2801(DB15661): - It is a drug that have been successful against
the Corona virus i.e. against the SARS COV-2, SARS, MERS.
EIDD-2801 is the iso-propyl-ester
prodrug of N4-hydroxycytidine. With improved oral bioavailability in non-human
primates, it is hydrolyzed in vivo, and distributes into tissues where it
becomes the active 5’-triphosphate form.
The active drug incorporates into
the genome of RNA viruses, leading to an accumulation of mutations known as
viral error catastrophe.
Recent studies have shown EIDD-2801 inhibits
replication of human and bat coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, in mice and
human airway epithelial cells. A remdesivir resistant mutant mouse hepatitis
virus has also been shown to have increased sensitivity to N4-hydroxycytidine.
It has to be put under clinical trials
to be used in human. Researchers are trying so that they can develop an oral
drug. It would be a potential drug against the corona virus.
3. To develop
a new vaccine
Two companies i.e. GSK and Sanofi
are collaborating with each other to develop a new vaccine.
Vaccine development generally
takes a time of about 12-18 months.
Sanofi will contribute its
S-protein COVID-19 antigen, which is based on recombinant DNA technology. This
technology has produced an exact genetic match to proteins found on the surface
of the virus, and the DNA sequence encoding this antigen has been combined into
the DNA of the baculovirus expression platform, the basis of Sanofi’s licensed
recombinant influenza product in the US.
GSK will contribute its proven
pandemic adjuvant technology to the collaboration. The use of an adjuvant can
be of particular importance in a pandemic situation since it may reduce the
amount of vaccine protein required per dose, allowing more vaccine doses to be
produced and therefore contributing to protect more people.
- Approach Taken- The combination of a protein-based antigen together with an adjuvant, is well-established and used in a number of vaccines available today. An adjuvant is added to some vaccines to enhance the immune response, and has been shown to create a stronger and longer lasting immunity against infections than the vaccine alone. It can also improve the likelihood of delivering an effective vaccine that can be manufactured at scale.
Compiled By-CuriositySeeker.
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