CSIC has discovered a new use for an existing drug on the market as antiviral agent
A new use for a drug already on the market: the prevention or/and treatment of COVID-19
These days there is a need for safe and effective antiviral agents with a wide spectrum of anti-viral activity. Since the emergence of a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) from Wuhan, China, in December 2019, that has caused millions of cases of human infections and huge cases of deaths globally and was declared as a pandemic by World Health Organisation, broad-spectrum antivirals for the treatment of emerging and endemic CoVs are needed. The virus spreads rapidly from the transmission among human, and the symptoms caused by the virus (abbreviated “COVID-19”) ranges from mild cough and fever to severe pneumonia and potentially life-threatening symptoms. Waiting for the availability of new vaccines, this global emergency has triggered the search for safe and effective pharmacological approaches for eradicating the virus, or at least reducing its effects and hindering the contagion, since, currently there is only one approved therapy to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. By using a computational approach, the library of FDA approved drugs, already used in humans, has been screened to identify in a quick and efficient way potential antiviral agents against SARS-CoV-2 to be subsequently studied in the corresponding biological studies. In this way, a promising candidate has been found.
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