Dengue fever's first drug may be coming out soon

Dengue fever's first drug may be coming out soon

The first drug for dengue fever may be coming out The first medicine for dengue fever may be coming out soon

Recently, researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium discovered a compound that can prevent dengue virus replication in in vitro experiments and mouse experiments, and is likely to be marketed as an easy-to-administer drug to fight dengue fever
.

Related research results were published in "Nature"

Jenny Low, an infectious disease doctor at Singapore General Hospital who was not involved in the study, said: "If this drug is also effective in human clinical trials, then the drug can be used in primary care clinics, which is very important for developing countries with a high incidence of dengue fever.
"
.

Dengue fever is an acute vector-borne disease caused by the transmission of dengue virus through mosquitoes
.

It is reported that more than 400 million people are infected with dengue virus every year, mainly in Asia and Latin America

According to differences in antigenicity, dengue virus can be divided into 4 serotypes.
Infection with different serotypes of virus will increase the risk of internal bleeding and death
.

There are currently no specific drugs to treat the disease.

For decades, the need to prevent four serotypes of virus infection at the same time has hindered the development of dengue vaccines
.

Johan Neyts, a virologist at the University of Leuven in Belgium, who led the study, said that finding a drug with balanced activity against all four viruses is like "finding a needle in a haystack

Since 2009, the Neyts team has used an automated high-throughput testing process to screen tens of thousands of small molecules with anti-dengue fever activity
.

Afterwards, they fine-tuned several molecules they found, and produced more than 2,000 compounds for further testing

Next, the researchers applied the compound to mice before and after infection with dengue fever to see whether the compound can be used as a therapeutic or preventive agent
.

It was found that in both cases, JNJ-A07 was very effective in reducing the viral load and the diseases caused by the virus

Cameron Simmons, an infectious disease scientist at Monash University in Australia, said that the results of the mouse test proved the safety and effectiveness of clinical trials in humans
.

But retired dengue researcher Scott Halstead warned not to expect too, "past experience shows that in vitro data for the study cited, even a mouse model of data is not a reliable predictor of clinical efficacy"

In this study, the researchers found that JNJ-A07 blocked the replication function of the complex
.

The complex is a combination of five proteins that interact to enable the dengue virus to replicate itself in the cell

It is worth mentioning that, in order to achieve the best results, JNJ-A07 must be taken within a few days of the onset of symptoms and before the virus replication starts to run at a high speed
.
Simmons said that the "window" for the treatment of dengue fever is very short.
Many people with dengue fever do not seek medical help until the third or fourth day of illness.
By this time it is already too late
.

In this regard, Neyts agreed: "The deployment of related drugs needs to be accompanied by educating doctors and the public
.
" He believes that this drug can also be used as a preventive agent to reduce the outbreak of dengue fever in the community and protect those who want to go to the dengue fever epidemic.
Regional travelers
.
"

Currently, the drug is in clinical trials, but Neyts declined to disclose details and said that the latest situation will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in November
.
(Source: Xin Yu, China Science News)

Related paper information: https://doi.
org/10.
1038/s41586-021-03990-6

https://doi.
org/10.
1038/s41586-021-03990-6