US to invest $ 3.2 billion in development of antiviral pills against COVID-19

US to invest $ 3.2 billion in development of antiviral pills for COVID-19 disease, as announced Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services of the North American country.

Treatment could avoid hospitalizations and potentially save many lives in the years to come, because the coronavirus still remains a threat despite the development and application of vaccines.

“I wake up, I don’t feel well, my smell and taste are disappearing, my throat is sore. I call my doctor and I say, ‘I have COVID and I need a prescription’ “

Other viruses, such as the flu, HIV and hepatitis C, can be treated with a simple pill. However, in the case of the coronavirus, after more than a year of investigation, there is no medicine to fight the disease. The Operation chain speed, the program of the former president Donald trump accelerate research on COVID-19, spent much more money on vaccine development than on treatments, according to the American media The New York Times.

The new influx of money will speed up clinical trials of several promising drugs. If all goes well, some of these pills could be available later this year. The antiviral program for pandemics will also support research into completely new drugs, not only for the coronavirus, but for viruses that could cause future pandemics.

Antoine Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and one of the main promoters of the program, said he hopes coronavirus patients can pick up their antiviral pills at a pharmacy as soon as they know they are PCR positive or when they start to develop symptoms compatible with COVID-19.

“I wake up in the morning, I don’t feel very well, my smell and taste disappear, my throat is sore. I call my doctor and I say, ‘I have COVID and I need a prescription’ “, detailed Fauci in an interview cited by the New York Times to explain the process of obtaining the antiviral.

Fauci’s support for antiviral pill research comes from his own experience in the fight AIDS three decades ago. In the 1990s, his institute conducted research that led to some of the first antiviral pills against HIV, “protease inhibitors” that block an essential protein of the virus and can keep it at bay for a lifetime.

In the early 2000s, researchers discovered that an antiviral called sofosbuvir could cure hepatitis C by almost 100%. Tamiflu, an over-the-counter flu pill, can shorten the recovery time from an infection and reduce the chances that the flu will cause a person in the hospital.

With the coronavirus pandemic, Researchers have started testing existing antivirals in people hospitalized with coronavirus. But many of these trials have shown no benefit from antivirals. Looking back, the decision to work in hospitals was a mistake. Scientists now know that the best time to try to fight the coronavirus is in the first days of the diseasewhen the virus replicates rapidly and the immune system has not yet put up a defense.

So far, only one antiviral has shown a clear benefit for hospitalized people: remdesivir. The drug seems shorten the course of the disease when given intravenously. Last October, he became the First and only antiviral drug to be approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat COVID-19 disease. However, it has not been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Last year, government funding for coronavirus treatments focused on a few applicants, such as the monoclonal antibodies and remdesivir. Many other antiviral studies were small and underfunded. But since January 2021, Joe Biden’s administration began designing new antiviral program, according to the New York Times.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that it would purchase 1.7 million doses of molnupiravir from drugmaker Merck for $ 1.2 billion.as long as the current trial is cleared by the FDA. According to David kessler, scientific director of the Biden administration’s COVID-19 response team, it is possible that government seeks similar deals for two more antivirals that are well advanced in clinical trials, ensures the New York media.

One of the drugs the government is considering is AT-527, developed by Atea Pharmaceuticals. The compound has already shown be safe and effective as a treatment for hepatitis C, and early studies suggest it may work against COVID-19 as well. Roche has partnered with Atea to test it in humans, and the companies are currently conducting an advanced phase clinical trial.

The other drug under evaluation was created by scientists at Pfizer, adapted from a molecule initially conceived in the early 2000s as a possible anti-SARS drug. Scientists have decided to modify its structure to fight against the novel protease of the coronavirus.

The drug was designed to be taken intravenously, but Pfizer has successfully modified its structure to make it work like a pill. When the mice were given the drug orally, it reached levels high enough in the body to block the coronavirus. Pfizer launched a clinical trial in March to study its safety in humans and plans to move on to further testing in July.

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