New COVID-19 Medication Kills 99.9 Percent of the Virus + 2-DG made in India.
A joint project of scientists from
Australia and the US develop the first-ever antiviral treatment that
targets the Novel Coronavirus. The new medication eliminates 99.9% of
the virus and halts its spread in the body. Until now, no known COVID-19
treatment has been developed; generic antiviral medications like
zanamivir and remdesivir are able to slow down the spread of the virus
only partially.
The researchers believe that the novel
treatment will be especially helpful for those patients who require
urgent medical care, as well as those at risk of developing
complications. Read on to learn more about this new antiviral treatment
and how it works.
The first antiviral medication that targets COVID-19
According to research published on May 13,
2021, in the journal Molecular Technology, a team of scientists from the
Menzies Health Institute in Queensland, Australia, and the US City of
Hope Institute has developed an antiviral treatment capable of
eliminating 99.9 percent of the Novel Coronavirus. The therapy uses a
gene-silencing RNA technology that destroys SARS-CoV-2, the virus that
causes COVID-19, as well as other known coronaviruses, such as the SARS
and the MERS viruses that caused outbreaks in 2002–2004 and 2012,
respectively.
The medication targets the genome of the virus directly and stops it
from replicating. According to Professor Nigel McMillan, from Griffith
University, the lead researcher of the study, "It causes the genome to
be destroyed and the virus can't grow anymore — so we inject the
nanoparticles and they go and find the virus and destroy it just like a
heat-seeking missile." He also notes that “Normal human cells are
completely unharmed by this treatment."
Who will benefit from this treatment?
The researchers say that those who are suffering from COVID-19,
especially patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), as well as those
exposed to the virus can take advantage of the treatment. Since the
medication stops the replication of the virus almost completely, this
will allow the body to repair and recover more quickly. Professor
McMillan states that early treatment, ”should be able to eliminate
people dying from this disease,” which is really exciting.
According to their early estimations, those
treated in the ICU would require 4-5 daily injections of the medication
to make a full recovery, whereas those who were recently exposed to the
virus would only need one injection to ensure that they’re free of the
virus.
What else should I know about this novel treatment?
One last meaningful feature of the new medication is that it’s stable at
4°C (39°F) for 12 months, and at room temperature for over a month,
which means that it’s easy to transport and treat infected patients in
low-resource locations. At this point, the antiviral medication has
passed animal trials, but it is yet to go through phase one, two, and
three clinical trials in humans.
For that reason, the researchers estimate that it will most likely only
be available in 2023. Considering that it’s the first existing treatment
of COVID-19, we hope that it will be available sooner.
In addition to this, just few days back, India's DRDO has launched its new drug to fight COVID-19, known as 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), it is an oral drug, found to be so effective."Clinical trial results have shown that this molecule helps in faster
recovery of hospitalised patients and reduces supplemental oxygen
dependence," an official DRDO statement had explained earlier.
The DRDO-developed 2 DG drug spreads through the body like glucose. It reaches the virus-infected cells and prevents virus growth by stopping viral synthesis and destroys the protein's energy production. The drug also works on virus infection spread into lungs, which helps decrease patient's dependability on oxygen.