Feature

First pill for COVID-19 could be ready by year’s end


 

Vaccines alone won’t end the COVID threat

Treatments are part of the “belt-and-suspenders” approach, along with vaccines to combat COVID-19, Dr. Doernberg said.

“We’re not going to eradicate COVID,” she said. “We’re still going to need treatments for people who either don’t respond to the vaccine or haven’t gotten the vaccine or developed disease despite the vaccine.”

Dr. Johnson

Dr. Johnson

Oral formulations are desperately needed, agreed Kenneth Johnson, PhD, professor of molecular biosciences at the University of Texas at Austin.

Right now, remdesivir treatments involve patients being hooked up to an IV for 30-120 minutes each day for 5 days. And the cost of a 5-day course of remdesivir ranges from $2340 to $3120 in the United States.

“We’re hoping we can come up with something that is a little bit easier to administer, and without as many concerns for toxic side effects,” he said.

Dr. Johnson’s team at UT-Austin recently made a key discovery about the way remdesivir stops the replication of viral RNA.

The understanding of where the virus starts to replicate in the infection chain of events and how and where it reacts with remdesivir might lead to the development of better, more concentrated pill forms of antivirals in the future, with fewer toxicities, he said.

The team used a lab dish to recreate the step-by-step process that occurs when a patient who is infected with SARS-CoV-2 receives remdesivir.

The discovery was published online in Molecular Cell in January and will be printed in the April issue of the journal.

The discovery won’t lead to an effective COVID-19 pill for our current crisis, but will be important for the next generation of drugs needed to deal with future coronaviruses, Dr. Johnson explained.

And there will be other coronaviruses, he said, noting that this one is the third in 20 years to jump from animals to humans. “It’s just a matter of time,” he said.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Pages

Recommended Reading

CDC: Vaccinated people can gather indoors without masks 
MDedge Dermatology
Management of a Child vs an Adult Presenting With Acral Lesions During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Practical Review
MDedge Dermatology
Five-day course of oral antiviral appears to stop SARS-CoV-2 in its tracks
MDedge Dermatology
Potential COVID-19 variant surge looms over U.S.
MDedge Dermatology
Missed visits during pandemic cause ‘detrimental ripple effects’
MDedge Dermatology
FDA authorizes first molecular at-home, OTC COVID-19 test
MDedge Dermatology
CDC data strengthen link between obesity and severe COVID
MDedge Dermatology
Myth busting: SARS-CoV-2 vaccine
MDedge Dermatology
Delay surgery by 7 weeks after COVID-19 diagnosis, study shows
MDedge Dermatology
Don’t discontinue osteoporosis meds for COVID-19 vaccines, expert guidance says
MDedge Dermatology