April 18, 2024

Athens News

News in English from Greece

Anticoid drug kills virus in mice

Scientists have unveiled an antiviral drug for Covid-19 that results in a viral load reduction of up to 99.9% in mice, a fact that could be effective against new mutations if approved for use in humans.

According to scientists from the Menzies Institute of Health at Griffith University in Australia and the City of Hope Institute in California, the treatment prevents the virus from replicating by attacking it directly with its genome.

The drug has been developed against both Sars-Cov-2 and any new mutations that this virus may have.

Nigel McMillan, one of the key researchers on the project, said the nanoparticles used to heal inside the body remained stable at 4 ° C for 12 months and at room temperature (remained constant) for more than a month, which means the drug could be used for treating patients without special storage and distribution needs.

To date, scientists around the world have failed to develop an effective antiviral drug against Covid-19, although some of the candidates have reached the stage of clinical trials.

Two candidate drugs, Merck and AT-527 from Rocheκ and Atea, have made progress: the first has entered “phase 3” and the second, which has shown antiviral activity in hepatitis C patients, will soon follow.

However, a study by the World Health Organization published last November argued that remadisivir, which is used to treat coronavirus patients in UK and US hospitals, did not significantly affect their chances of survival.

Source: Financial Times.





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