Covid-19 has spread around the planet, sending billions of people into lockdown. Declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, it has terrorized the whole world. At present, there is no approved treatment for the novel coronavirus.
New antiviral drug heading into clinical trials offers hope to fight with novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
A new drug called EIDD-2801 is expected to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Drug EIDD-2801 after being tested on mice is going to move for human clinical trials. This drug was initially developed for influenza and two other strains of coronavirus. Now researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) are testing the drug to treat COVID-19.
Dr. George Painter, co-founder of Drug Innovations at Emory (DRIVE), said, “We wanted something that could be used in public health emergencies, i.e., something that could be self-administered and not require significant medical infrastructure to take care of the patients, which would be particularly useful in these kinds of circumstances,”
Researchers shared the results of the study which was published online April 6 by the journal Science Translational Medicine. While testing on mice in a laboratory, the drug was found to reduce the amount of virus inside lung tissue. Not only that, it also improved the lung function.
Worldwide scientists are putting in best efforts to get the drug that actually works against SARS-CoV-2. Drug EIDD-2801, has shown effective results against Covid-19 and can be taken as a pill. Ralph Baric, Professor at Department of Microbiology and Immunology, said, “This new drug not only has a high potential for treating Covid-19 patients but also appears effective for the treatment of other serious coronavirus infections,”
