Soon an effective combination therapy against the different variants of the coronavirus? This is suggested by a study conducted by researchers from the Architecture and Function of Biological Macromolecules laboratory at the University of Aix-Marseille, the results of which were published today in the journal Type of communicationas reported by Provence.
Contacted by 20 minutes, Bruno Canard, the head of this laboratory discusses this discovery. “In 2020, we were contacted by Atea, an American pharmaceutical laboratory, founded by Jean-Pierre Sommadossi, a native of the region and with whom we had worked. There was this new drug, bemnifosbuvir, developed to fight against hepatitis C and which he wanted us to analyze its mechanisms of action and which has been shown to be active against coronaviruses, ”rewinds the researcher.
Oral administration
“This drug was found to attach to the virus’s reproductive enzymes and stop its RNA synthesis. And where it is particularly interesting is that this drug attaches to two different places, which makes the risk of mutations of the virus very limited, ”he continues.
For now, bemnifosbuvir is still in the clinical trial phase. It has just started its phase 3, specifies the publication which suggests a marketing at the end of the year. At this stage, its potential side effects have therefore already been fairly widely tested and “no toxicity has been highlighted”, specifies Doctor Bruno Canard.
Also, this pill, available orally, opens up an interesting possibility of complementing Paxlovid, the anti-Covid capsule developed by Pfizer. “These two drugs do not target the same enzymes of the virus, which makes it possible to envisage a combination therapy and an effective combinatorial treatment”.
This research work, which mobilized around twenty researchers from this laboratory, was “mostly led by Ashleigh Shannon, an Australian postdoctoral student”, pointed out the professor. “She came in 2020 with a 6-month scholarship and her spouse, without knowing if I would find other funding for her. Today, she is still with us, and has even applied for naturalization”. Said thus, it could be that the story of this research, announced without trumpet nor drum, is beautiful until the end.