Sometimes a drug that was approved for a specific disease might be also effective in treating another disorder. Over 4,000 approved drugs are being screened to determine if there might be one (or more) that could be effective in treating COVID-19 patients.
Vaccines normally take a minimum of five years and ten years in many cases before they become safe for humans. Existing drugs have already been proven safe by testing in clinical trials. The primary unknown is the dosage needed to be effective in treating a new disease.
Remdesivir
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7202249/ is a scientific article that addresses the drug, remdesivir, as an Ebola virus drug that became a COVID-19 drug. Remdesivir went through many clinical trials. Viruses replicate and spread throughout the body. Remdesivir thwarts the replication process for viruses.
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-treatment-covid-19#:~:text=Today%2C%20the%20U.S.%20Food%20and,of%20COVID%2D19%20requiring%20hospitalization is the link that shows the FDA approval for remdesivir to be used on humans to treat COVID-19.
There are some restrictions on its use. Patients must be 12 years of age and weigh at least 88 pounds. The drug should only be administered in a hospital or a healthcare facility that provides acute care functions like an ICU. Remdesivir is also known as Veklury and is the first drug treatment approved by the FDA for COVID-19.
Process for Approved Drugs
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/study-identifies-3-existing-drugs-that-may-help-treat-covid-19 refers to research recently published in the journal ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science dated October 14, 2020, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsptsci.0c00131.
Health scientists use computers to test various theories of which drugs might work well to treat a particular disease. The technique is called HTS (high throughput screening). https://www.bmglabtech.com/high-throughput-screening/
The results are based on computer models and not actual patient results from clinical testing. It speeds the process up significantly to weed out those drugs that offer promise.
Hydroxychloroquine was effective in arresting the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for COVID-19 in test tubes but has not had the same success in clinical studies with human subjects. There are many anecdotal reports of this drug being successful in the actual treatment of patients, but not verified by clinical trials.
Study Protocol
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3405195/#:~:text=Ligand%2Dbased%20virtual%20screening%20methods,the%20target%20protein%20is%20available Ligand-based virtual screening (LBVS) furthers the HTS research process by verifying test results with earlier testing. As remdesivir was successful in stopping the replications of viruses, scientists look at the other processes a pathogen grows in the body. In some cases, it might be the disruption of the replication process. In other cases, it might be the isolation of the bonding of the virus to the host.
Once the viral properties are known, scientists can review the archives of drugs and test results to determine if something that was approved for acne, for example, might be effective to treat multiple sclerosis (my example).
The Three Drugs
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/amodiaquine identifies the antimalarial drug amodiaquine as a potential candidate in the fight against COVID-19.
The second contender is the anti-psychotic drug, zuclopenthixol https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/patient-education/zuclopenthixol
The third nominee in the potential clinical trial arena for COVID-19 is the blood pressure preparation, nebivolol https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a608029.html#:~:text=Nebivolol%20is%20used%20alone%20or,flow%20and%20decrease%20blood%20pressure
Conclusion
The purpose of these computer scans and programming analysis is to identify medications already approved that hypothetically could be effective in treating COVID-19. They might be effective singularly or in combination with other drugs or treatments.
Speeding up the process is critical when mortality rates are high. Rather than testing dozens of drugs that might work, the research delivers the best candidates for the COVID-19 testing.
Live Longer & Enjoy Life! – Red O’Laughlin – RedOLaughlin.com
