Kent researchers help to develop future Covid-19 drugs
New treatments for the coronavirus which may provide better protection against future variants have been identified by researchers from the University of Kent and the Goethe-University in Frankfurt am Main.
Professors Martin Michaelis and Mark Wass from Kent and Professor Jindrich Cinatl from Goethe tested the sensitivity of different SARS-CoV-2 Omicron and Delta viruses to combinations of the four currently approved antiviral drugs with betaferon – an additional class of antiviral drug that is also naturally produced in the body and protect it from virus infections.
The new treatments will be especially beneficial for people with immune system defects who are unable to be vaccinated and therefore rely on antiviral treatments. Developing new treatments also reduces the threat of resistance formation for the antiviral drugs.
Professor Martin Michaelis said: ‘These are exciting findings that will hopefully help to improve the treatment of vulnerable COVID-19 patients and to avoid the formation of resistant viruses as much as possible.’
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Currently, there are three approved antiviral drugs for the treatment of COVID-19: remdesivir, molnupiravir, and nirmatrelvir (the active agent in paxlovid). Moreover, aprotinin is an approved drug, whose anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity was discovered by the same research team, and it was recently shown to be beneficial in COVID-19 patients.
The team’s research found that interferon combinations with molnupiravir, nirmatrelvir, and aprotinin were much more effective than interferon combinations with remdesivir.
Combinations of remdesivir and interferon have so far shown limited improvement compared to remdesivir alone, and this may help to explain why.
Professor Jindrich Cinatl, Goethe University and Dr Petra Joh Research Institute, said: ‘If these findings are confirmed in patients, I hope that more effective therapies will help us to reduce the formation of novel dangerous COVID-19 variants.’
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