Treat covid within 5 days? New anti-covi oral drugs have 3 major advantages

 Reporter : Li Jia / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/5/3/n12922080.htm / Direct translation 

Image : Anti-covi viral oral drugs can make up for some of the shortcomings of the covi vaccine and have three major advantages. (Shutterstock)

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Anti-covi oral medicine can make up deficiency of vaccine

When vaccines occupy almost all of people's field of vision, on the other hand, the research and development of oral anti-coronavirus drugs is also underway. The covi oral medicine is mainly used to reduce the probability of severe illness in patients. It can make up for some of the deficiencies of the vaccine and may even have the effect of preventing infection.

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Treat covid in 5 days? Trial of oral drug molnupiravir initially shows efficacy

Currently in the United States, there are many kinds of oral anti-coronavirus drugs under development. The joint development of Molnupiravir  by Merck and a biotechnology company in the United States is in a leading position and has entered the Phase II and Phase III combined clinical trials in experimental phase.

Like many anti-covi drugs such as Remdesivir, molnupiravir is not a new drug developed specifically for covid, but an old drug. It was originally used to treat influenza. Later in vitro cytology experiments found that it also has an effect on SARS, MERS and other viruses. Now after the outbreak of the epidemic, Merck has begun to study its efficacy against the novel coronavirus (covi).

Molnupiravir is a broad-spectrum antiviral drug, and its principle of action is to prevent the replication of the virus. Covi is an RNA virus and requires a raw material called bases to replicate. The molecular structure of molnupiravir is very similar to bases. It pretends and occupies the position of viral bases, inhibiting the synthesis of covi in the body.

In the stage of animal experiments, molnupiravir showed a good antiviral effect. In the second and third phases of the combined clinical trials, it is estimated that there will be 3,000 participants, and a preliminary analysis of the efficacy of 182 people has been completed.

The patients participating in the clinical trials are all mild patients in outpatient clinics. Before taking the drug, 42% of patients tested positive for nasal virus. Five days after taking the drug, the virus in the nasal cavity was detected again. The positive rate of the drug group was 0%, and the positive rate of the placebo group was 24%.

But for the final effect of the drug, we have to wait for the complete Phase III clinical trial results to fully analyze its efficacy and safety.

However, Merck has also tested in hospitalized patients and found that the drug has no effect on hospitalized patients with severe symptoms.

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Make up for the lack of vaccines: 3 advantages of oral drugs for the treatment of covid

In fact, compared with other anti-covi therapies that require intravenous injection, such as monoclonal antibodies and rehabilitation plasma therapy, oral medications for the treatment of covid have many advantages and can make up for some of the deficiencies of the vaccine.

1. Convenient and easy to obtain

Oral anti-covi drugs can be bought in pharmacies, unlike monoclonal antibody therapy that requires infusion in the hospital. Moreover, it does not need to be refrigerated like vaccines, so it is easy to transport and store. Especially in some areas, many people do not have the opportunity to be vaccinated due to the shortage of vaccines or insufficient cold chain transportation of vaccines. For these people, oral medications may be easier to obtain.

2. It may also be effective against variant viruses

The development principles of drugs and vaccines are different. Vaccines are made using virus genes as templates. If the virus mutates, especially mutations with immune escape functions, such as Brazil variants, South African variants, and Indian variants, the protection rate of the vaccine may decrease.

Drugs generally work by preventing the virus from replicating itself, so a mutation at a single site of the virus will not affect the effect of the drug.

3. May be effective for people with low immunity

Vaccines work by stimulating the body's immune response and producing antibodies. It may have little effect on people with weakened immune function. For such people, oral medicine can be used as a supplement. 

In addition, antiviral drugs may also play a role in preventing the covi infection. Research published in the journal Nature Microbiology shows that after an infected ferret is fed molnupiravir, it can reduce the probability of infecting other ferrets in the same cage.

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What other oral drugs are under development?

In the United States, other new oral drugs under development include:

Favipiravir: A broad-spectrum RNA polymerase inhibitor, originally used to treat influenza, has now received emergency authorization for COVID-19 treatment in Japan, Russia and India. In the United States, it is in clinical trials.

PF-07321332: At the end of March, Pfizer announced the development of the covi oral drug, which is a protease inhibitor with antiviral activity against covi. It is currently in Phase I clinical trials.

Upamostat: Originally an orphan drug for adjuvant treatment of pancreatic cancer. It is a serine protease inhibitor with anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities.

AT-527: It can interfere with viral RNA polymerase and inhibit viral replication.