Interpretation of Nature papers!

In a new study, researchers from research institutions such as the University of Hong Kong, China and the Sanford-Burnham-Pulibes Institute for Medical Discovery in the United States discovered that they have been approved and listed by the U.
S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) The anti-leprosy drug clofazimine on the World Health Organization (WHO) Essential Medicines List shows strong antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 and can prevent excessive inflammatory responses associated with severe COVID-19.

Based on these findings, a phase 2 clinical trial evaluating clofazimine as a home treatment for COVID-19 may begin immediately.

The relevant research results were published online in Nature on March 16, 2021.
The title of the paper is "Clofazimine broadly inhibits coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2".

The corresponding authors of the paper are Ren Sun and Kwok-Yung Yuen of the University of Hong Kong and Dr.
Sumit Chanda, Director of the Immunization and Pathogenesis Program of the Sanford-Burnham-Pribes Institute of Medical Discovery.

The chemical structural formula of clofazimine.

Chanda said, “Clofazimine is an ideal drug candidate for the treatment of COVID-19.

It is safe, affordable, easy to make, taken in pill form, and can be used worldwide.

We hope that it will be tested in phase 2 clinical trials as soon as possible .
People who have tested positive for COVID-19 but have not been hospitalized are tested for clofazimine.

Given that there is currently no outpatient treatment for these people, clofazimine may help reduce the impact of the disease.
This is especially important now because We are seeing the emergence of new variants of this virus, and current vaccines do not seem to be effective against them.

"Through screening drug libraries to find promising drug candidates, clofazimine initially determined its ability to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from replicating by screening one of the world’s largest collections of known drugs.

These researchers were previously in Nature.
As reported above, clofazimine is one of 21 drugs that are effective in vitro or in laboratory dishes, and its concentration is most likely to be safe in patients (Nature, 2020, doi:10.
1038/s41586-020-2577-1) .

in this study, the researchers tested the clofazimine in hamsters infected with SARS-CoV-2 (a kind of animal model COVID-19) in
that they found, clofazimine reduces the viral load in the lungs The amount, including preventive administration to healthy animals before infection.

This drug also reduces lung damage and prevents "cytokine storm", which is a strong inflammatory response to SARS-CoV-2, which may be fatal a.

Sun said, "to accept clofazimine animals less damage to the lungs, the lower the viral load, particularly those of receiving this drug before infection when.

In addition to inhibiting the virus, there are signs that the drug can also regulate the host's response to the virus, thereby better controlling infection and inflammation.

"When administered to hamsters infected with SARS-CoV-2, clofazimine also works synergistically with remdesivir.
Remdesivir is currently the standard care for patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
Treatment.

These findings indicate that there is a potential opportunity to expand the availability of expensive and limited supply of Remixivir.
Clofazimine's
mechanism of action This study shows that clofazimine prevents SARS in two ways -CoV-2 infection: Prevent this virus from entering cells and destroying RNA replication (SARS-CoV-2 uses RNA to replicate).
Clofazimine
can reduce Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus in human lung tissue.
MERS-CoV).

Yuen said, "The most important thing is that clofazimine seems to have pan-coronavirus activity, which suggests that it may be an important weapon against future epidemics.

"Our research suggests that we should consider building a ready-made one.
Clofazimine stocks, if another new type of coronavirus emerges, this drug can be deployed immediately.

"He previously discovered the coronavirus (SARS-CoV) that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

In July 2020, Chanda shared more about his team’s competition to find a cure for COVID-19.

In clinical trials Test Clofazimine The University of Hong Kong is conducting a phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate the combination of clofazimine and interferon beta-1b in the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Interferon beta-1b is an immunomodulatory agent designed to It is given by injection and is currently used to treat patients with multiple sclerosis.

Chanda said, “Our data shows that clofazimine should also be tested as a monotherapy for COVID-19 patients, which will reduce many treatment barriers.

COVID-19 patients will be able to simply receive treatment with low-cost pills instead of going to the hospital for injections.

"References: 1.
Shuofeng Yuan et al.
Clofazimine broadly inhibits coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2.
Nature, 2021, doi:10.
1038/s41586-021-03431-4.
2.
Laura Riva et al.
Discovery of SARS-CoV-2 antiviral drugs through large-scale compound repurposing.
Nature, 2020, doi:10.
1038/s41586-020-2577-1.
3.
Leprosy drug holds promise as at-home treatment for COVID-19https://medicalxpress.
com/news/2021-03 -leprosy-drug-at-home-treatment-covid-.
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