COVID-19 to soon face 2 new drugs

Sampriti Roy, University of Calcutta

At this time in the pandemic when we have ongoing vaccination drives, a new development in the pharmaceutical industry could prove to be a step towards enhanced protection and ability to fight against COVID-19 infections. This is the development of two drugs developed by Australian scientists from QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Queensland, Australia. The drugs are peptide-based and target the human cells instead of the virus.  One of the drugs provides early intervention to prevent COVID-19 infections when given to patients who haven’t been exposed to the virus yet and thus improve vaccine efficacy. Another enhances the capability of already infected patients to fight against COVID-19 by stopping the spread of the virus in their cells. 

• How do the drugs work?

The development of the drugs took place after the researchers found a way of entry of SARS-CoV-2 into the cells that was unknown previously. This new finding involves the ACE2, a protein on the surface of many types of cells and which acts as a receptor for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. “What we’ve really uncovered is the way the virus is able to exploit the human cells and allow the ACE2 door to become fully open, and therefore the virus can rapidly enter. Once it enters it can use the cellular machinery in the human cells to replicate”, said Professor Sudha Rao, Senior researcher at QIMR. With this knowledge, the drugs were developed accordingly.

Drug 1 (The drug that is meant for patients not exposed to the virus):  

The drug has been found to reduce infection by concealing the ACE2 receptor protein present in human cells. ACE2 receptor is chosen because it is utilized by SARS-Cov-2 spike protein in order to bind to and invade cells. According to Dr. Rao, it was discovered that some people tend to have a chemical tag on the ACE2 receptor that keeps the receptor “locked or open”. This controls the infection and makes those with the tagless susceptible to infection and those without, more vulnerable.

The new drug aims to prevent the tag from being removed in tagged individuals. In untagged individuals, due to the presence of concealing or cloaking peptides (an effect of the drug), infection is prevented.

Drug 2 (The drug that is meant for affected individuals):

When the virus invades the cell, this drug can block the ability of the virus to replicate further. This is claimed to boost the ability of the immune system to recognize the virus. 

• Aren’t vaccines enough?

According to infectious diseases expert Dr. Paul Griffin, vaccines are a huge part of the strategy to prevent people from getting sick. But there isn’t a guarantee that 100 percent of the time that vaccinated people will be totally protected. Thus, there will still be a chance that the infection will keep circulating.

The new drugs have the potential to be a long-term solution towards limiting the impacts of the virus in addition to the rollout of vaccines.

According to Dr. Rao, the design of the drugs is supposed to make them capable of blocking all variants- all beta coronaviruses.

• So, when do clinical trials start?

According to Dr. Rao, human trials are expected to start soon after getting final results from their tests- most probably in a few months. Until now, the test results have looked very promising. All the testing has been done in “human cells and in gold-standard models of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the COVID-19 models” and in both cases, the drugs were found to be very safe.

• Distribution of the drugs around the world:

The production and subsequent distribution of the drugs will not be a problem, according to Rao. Some of the features that indicate ease of distribution are:

• Stability: This is because the drugs are stable at room temperature. The drugs have already been on planes and even shipped to Europe from Australia and found to remain stable. This brought forth the conclusion to the developers that they can be transported anywhere.
• Manufacture: The manufacturing process of the drugs is said to be pretty standard. So, very specialized laboratories are not needed for its production.

With the promising results that have been shown by the drugs against all present variants and the ease with which the drugs can be distributed globally, the drugs could play an important part in our return to normalcy. According to Dr. Rao, it is presently very important that we have “multiple tools in our toolbox” to fight the virus. It is the different combinations of drugs and vaccines that could ultimately ensure our safety in the long run.

Also read: Consciousness towards Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Reference: 

• Tu, W.J., McCuaig, R.D., Melino, M. et al. Targeting novel LSD1-dependent ACE2 demethylation domains inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication. Cell Discov7, 37 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41421-021-00279-w

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Warning: This is just a new development in the field of Biosciences. We at BioXone do not promote intake of any medicine without Doctor’s consultation. Please consult with doctors before taking any medicine.