J Biol Chem: Study reveals why Redsyvir may be treating new coronaviruses!

March 1, 2020 // -- A team of researchers at the University of Alberta has discovered why the drug Redsyvir is effective in treating coronaviruses that cause Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and they hope it may also be effective in treating patients infected with the new COVID-19 strain.
even if you know a drug works, if you don't know how it works, it can be a red flag," said Mattias Gtte, a virologist at the University of New China.
it's reassuring if you know exactly how it works for your goal.
know that this drug can treat different coronavirus, such as MIDDLES and SARS, and we know that this new type of coronavirus is very similar to SARS.
, I am cautiously optimistic that the results our team found on Redsiway and MERS will be similar to COVID-19.
": The study, published this week in Journal of Biological Chemistry, was one of the first in Canada to discuss the COVID-19 strain.
so far, there has not been a well-established explanation for why Redsyvirus may be effective against coronaviruses, he added, adding that his research is an important step in answering this question.
, a drug developed by Gilead Sciences in response to the 2014 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, was first used to treat a new coronavirus patient in the United States earlier this year.
the patient took the drug on the seventh day of the disease and showed significant improvement the next day, and the symptoms eventually disappeared completely, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization, said at a recent news conference in Beijing that Redsyvir is the only drug that may be effective against COVID-19.
" our study shows that Redsyvir essentially mimics one of the natural building blocks of RNA synthesis, which is necessary for viral genome replication.
enzymes in the virus use these building blocks to synthesize the viral RNA genome, but they mix the pieces needed with the drug.
once the drug enters the growing RNA chain, the virus can no longer replicate.
said the next step is to await the results of the ongoing Redsiway clinical trial, which is expected by the end of April.
he warned that even then, it would not end there.
more than one drug may be needed to effectively fight emerging diseases, such as COVID-19, just as we do against HIV and HCV infections," said Scotte.
ideally, we need multiple drugs because some strains may become resistant to certain treatments.
" () Reference: Calvin J Gordon et al. The antiviral compound potently res RNA-dependent RNA polymerase from Middle East resaly syndrome coronavirus, Journal of Biological Chemistry (2020). DOI: 10.1074/jbc. AC120.013056 Michelle L. Holshue et al. First Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in The United States, New England Journal of Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2001191.