One to one and a half years should pass before an approved vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 is obtained. Many hopes are currently directed towards drug therapy
Research is currently in full swing worldwide to find drugs to treat Covid-19 disease. Many drugs are used for this, which are already known from other diseases. As a result, the researchers usually do not have to start from scratch. However, there will probably not be the one drug, since an infection with the new type of corona virus (Sars-CoV-2) can take very different courses (see also phases of a Covid-19 disease). Therefore, when testing new drugs, consideration is also given to the phase in which they could best be used.
This is important in order to understand what the starting points of the various studies are. In the early and possibly second phase of the infection, the penetration of the virus and the virus replication are in the foreground - here drugs that reduce the replication and cell transport (intracellular transport) of the virus, such as antivirals, come into question. In the late second or third phase, the so-called hyper inflammatory phase, the inflammatory and immune reactions of the body are more in the foreground, so that anti-inflammatory drugs could be of greater importance here. Active ingredients that could help against the damaging mechanisms (triggered by Sars-CoV-2 in other body cells) represent another group of therapy components.
The four possible pillars of therapy against Covid-19
Drugs are currently being developed in four directions:
1.) Antiviral Drugs
On the one hand, one relies on so-called antivirals that have already been developed against other viruses such as flu, HIV, Ebola, hepatitis, or SARS and MERS - relatives of the new coronavirus. These drugs have the advantage that they have already been researched and, in some cases, have already been approved for certain infections, which saves an enormous amount of time. They attack in different places by preventing the virus from docking with the human host cell, invading it or multiplying there.
HIV and hepatitis drugs
A drug with the active ingredients lopinavir and ritonavir that has been used for a long time against HIV is also being tested in smaller clinical studies. However, the Robert Koch Institute explicitly states that given the current data, the administration of this drug is only justified in controlled studies. The WHO has currently put the study arm on hold. The substance ribavirin used against hepatitis C is also in the test phase.
On May 25, another drug with the active ingredient ABX 464 was approved for the treatment of COVID-19 patients as part of a study. This originates from HIV research and is also being researched in the inflammatory bowel disease ulcerative colitis. It is now being tested whether the active ingredient can prevent the virus from replicating and above all prevent an overreaction of the immune system.
Malaria drugs
The drug chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine were also tested. It has long been used against malaria and is also effective against viruses. Tests in the test tube showed that it could also work against Sars-CoV-2. A study published on May 22nd in the journal The Lancet concluded that the drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are unlikely to be suitable for the treatment of Covid-19. There was even evidence that the death rate and the occurrence of cardiac arrhythmias could increase. The study is based on data analyzes by the research team led by Professor Mandeep Mehra from Harvard Medical School, which are based on data collected at 671 hospitals on six continents. The Robert Koch Institute also advises against the gift (outside of studies).
Ebola drugs
The drug Remdesivir is a virus-inhibiting drug (virustatic) and was originally developed for the treatment of Ebola. A study published on May 22nd in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that both the recovery time (mean 11 instead of 15 days) and the risk of dying were lower in Covid-19 patients treated with Remdesivir than in the control group, consisting of Covid-19 patients who had received a placebo. On July 3, 2020, the European Commission granted conditional approval for the drug. It is only used for patients who are seriously ill with Covid-19, which means that they have pneumonia and require additional oxygen therapy. It is especially useful in the early phase of the disease (up to 10 days after the disease
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