RESEARCHERS believe that a combination of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved antiviral medications could help people with SARS-CoV-2 infections.
They combined the drug remdesivir, which is effective against Ebola, with drugs that can treat hepatitis C.
With worldwide Covid-19 cases on the rise again, the race to find an effective treatment for the disease continues.
Researchers from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, NY, believe that a combination of drugs already approved for use in the United States could be the key in treating Covid-19.
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The researchers combined remdesivir, which doctors already prescribe to hospitalized patients with Covid-19, with different hepatitis C virus (HCV) medications. They hoped to identify a combination that slows viral replication.
“Here we see a promising synergy that, if confirmed through additional research and clinical trials, could provide a new antiviral to combat Covid-19,” says Dr. Gaetano Montelione, Ph.D., a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.
Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic in March 2020, nearly 150 million people have contracted the virus, and approximately 3 million have died.
Over the past year, researchers have investigated numerous drugs and therapies to help treat Covid-19.
Remdesivir, for example, can treat Covid-19 in an inpatient setting. According to one articleTrusted Source, remdesivir can “target specific viral enzymes or attack a weak point of viral replication within the host.”
Certain corticosteroids, such as dexamethasone, can reduce inflammation in people with Covid-19.
Researchers also considered using hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19. Doctors use hydroxychloroquine to treat malaria and rheumatoid arthritis, but further research showed that it did more harmTrusted Source than good in people with Covid-19.
The authors of the recent paper, which appears as a pre-proof in the journal Cell Reports, considered 10 different HCV drugs in their study.
