Scientists, in parallel with their studies for the production of the appropriate vaccine for the coronavirus, are trying to invent an effective medicine for the disease. COVID 19However, this will take years, says Dr. Christos Petrou, Associate Professor in the Pharmacy Program at the University of Nicosia, noting that so far there is no drug that is strong against the coronavirus.
Dr. Petrou said that the approved treatments so far, the drugs taken and found to be useful in the treatment of coronavirus, are remedisivir and dexamethasone.
Dexamethasone is approved for use in patients receiving oxygen therapy or mechanical support.
Remedisivir is an antiviral drug and is conditionally licensed for the treatment of adults and adolescents over 12 years of age with pneumonia who need supplemental oxygen. The drug is being re-evaluated.
Asked to comment on the drug cocktail taken by US President Trump, Dr. Petrou said: "These combinations were also given to Trump."
In the cocktail for Trump, he said, "monoclonal antibodies have been given, those that have recently been licensed for emergency use in the United States, remedisivir, which was the first drug to show some improvement in some patients, so that the clinical picture patients to leave the hospital and return to normal, a few days earlier ".
These are, he explained, the two antibodies casirivumab and imdevimab from the company Regeneron. The company Eli Lilly has a similar antibody.
The cocktail of the two antibodies is given to patients over 12 years of age with mild to moderate form of the disease who are not treated, but are considered high risk. They reduce the viral load, but their production is difficult, while it is considered an expensive treatment and is administered only in the USA.
Dr. Petrou said that clinical trials are ongoing for other therapies that may be useful for the coronavirus, with an example recently reported in the literature on the use of an antidepressant drug that has been encouraging to a small group of patients.
"At the moment we have no other treatments. We have various treatment protocols. In addition to these drugs that have been shown to have some specific action against the virus, they use other drugs to treat different manifestations of the disease. "Because the disease caused by the coronavirus is multisystematic," he added.
Unfortunately, he noted, there is still no drug that is a specialized antiviral drug from the beginning of the infection and to stop the symptoms that may occur and the onset of serious disease.
"Of the dozens of drugs that have been tested, it appeared that there is still no drug that is strong against the coronavirus. "There are many drugs in clinical trials with different targeting in the context of drug repositioning, and of course new molecules have begun to be tested that are not drugs known to be tested for other conditions, but it will take many years to complete."
Source: KYPE
