A cancer drug succeeds in stopping a human coronavirus
This has been demonstrated in vitro by a CSIC team, with promising results, although it still takes time to know if it is effective against SARS-Cov-2.
The virus that causes COVID-19 has put the world in check, and since its onset earlier this year, virology laboratories around the world are working tirelessly to find a treatment or vaccine that will help contain it. One strategy is to review the drugs that are already available against other conditions to see if they are effective against the new coronavirus.
Now, a team from the National Center for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC), based in Madrid, has just announced a promising result: a drug used to treat myeloma has managed, in laboratory culture, to stop the multiplication of the Ncov-coronavirus 229E, from the same family as our already familiar SARS-Cov-2.
In collaboration with the pharmaceutical company that discovered the drug, the researchers have carried out a series of laboratory-controlled experiments: "We have seen that it not only inhibits the replication of the virus, but also does so at very low concentrations and with one of the products that is not toxic to people," explained Luis Enjuanes, co-director of the coronavirus laboratory of the CNB-CSIC, which has been working on this virus family for over 30 years. "The important thing is that this component has already been used in humans, so its approval, in case it is confirmed, its effectiveness against the new coronavirus could be very fast," he says.
However, as the researcher recalls, "We have observed that the drug succeeds in stopping the multiplication of a type of human coronavirus, but we have not yet tested it with a deadly coronavirus for human beings," and that is the challenge despite the encouraging results.
Stages in experimentation with the new drug
As previously stated, there are still many steps to be taken in the investigation. The next step is to test the drug with the SARS-Cov-1 coronavirus, which appeared in China in 2002 and caused an epidemic with serious and even fatal symptoms. This virus is similar to SARS-Cov-2, which is responsible for the current global pandemic.
Before it is applied to human beings, it will be necessary to follow certain steps. "First we need biosecurity permissions to be able to evaluate the efficacy of the compound in the laboratory in cell cultures with SARS-Cov-2. It then moves on to a second phase in which preclinical animal trials are carried out, and its efficacy is demonstrated in animal models, and finally to a third stage in which it is experimented on in humans to confirm its efficacy before being applied in clinical", explained Sonia Zuñiga, virologist and co-director of the CNB-CSIC coronavirus laboratory.
How long are we talking? As stated earlier, the advantage of this drug is that it is known to be safe in humans, and in fact the concentrations that have been used in the experiments are lower than those that are usually used in the clinic to treat myeloma patients. "When could we know if this drug is effective against the new coronavirus? It could be a matter of two or three months," concludes Enjuanes.
