Scientists discover six possible drugs for treating COVID-19

Scientists have named six drug candidates from more than 10,000 compounds that may be used for treating coronavirus (COVID-19).

The research, published in the journal, Nature, tested the efficacy of approved drugs, drug candidates in clinical attempts and other compounds.

However, a Professor from the University of Queensland in Australia, Luke Guddat said, “Currently there are no targeted therapeutics or effective treatment options for COVID-19.”

“In order to rapidly discover lead compounds for clinical use, we initiated a programme of high-throughput drug screening, both in laboratories and also using the latest computer software to predict how different drugs bind to the virus,” Prof. Guddat said.

According to researchers, the project targeted the primary COVID-19 virus enzyme, known as the main protease or Mpro, which plays a major role in mediating viral replication.

Stating that this makes it an attractive drug target for the dealy virus, and as people don’t naturally have this enzyme, compounds that target it are likely to have low toxicity.

“We add the drugs directly to the enzyme or to cell cultures growing the virus and assess how much of each compound is required to stop the enzyme from working or to kill the virus. If the amount is small, then we have a promising compound for further studies,” said Guddat.

After trying thousands of drugs, researchers found six that appear to be effective in preventing the enzyme, and one is of particular interest.