Israeli laboratory: Some existing drugs could stop COVID almost 100%

Professor Shy Arkin, biochemist at the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Science, said The Jerusalem post that in lab tests in which cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 were placed with the drugs for two days, “nearly 100% of the cells lived despite being infected with the virus.”

In contrast, without the pre-existing drug compounds, about 50% of cells died after coming into contact with the virus.

Arkin and his team have selected a library of more than 2,800 compounds approved for use, identifying 18 drugs that they believe may be effective. In unpublished work, the researchers were able to show that several of these compounds “showed remarkable potency against the whole virus in in vitro experiments”.

Two of these are Darapladib, used for the treatment of atherosclerosis, and Flumatinib, used for the treatment of certain blood cancers. Arkin said he was hesitant to share the names of any of the drugs, adding that he couldn’t recommend them until they had undergone appropriate clinical trials.

The team focused on reusing the drugs to potentially speed up future regulatory steps. As drugs are already used for other indications, their toxicity and side effects, for example, are known and approved.

The drugs work by inhibiting two targets in the virus: protein E (envelope) and protein 3a.

Protein E is the most conserved of all viral proteins. For example, while the peak proteins of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 (the 2003 virus) are only about 75% identical, their E proteins are about 95% identical. This means that the drugs would likely remain effective even when the virus mutates, Arkin told the To post.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines target the spike protein.

As part of research carried out by Arkin’s team for more than two decades, they identified that protein E is an ion channel, a type of protein family expressed by virtually all living cells which, due to its structure, has “served as excellent and frequent targets for one-time pharmaceutical interventions”, including for cystic fibrosis, epilepsy, arrhythmia, neurodegenerative diseases, hypertension, angina pectoris and more, according to The report.

It is important that a “large arsenal” of drugs exist to fight SARS-CoV-2, Arkin said.

“We should never be in a situation where in our arsenal we only have one gun,” he said. “If we only have one and rely on him alone, and there comes a point where he fails, we will be in a very precarious situation.”

Arkin believes his team is ready for in vitro and in vivo studies, and he is looking for a pharmaceutical partner to help carry out these trials.

Citing Gilead’s success in securing U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for Remdesivir in record time at the start of the pandemic, Arkin said he was optimistic that at least some of these compounds could be approved for use against COVID “very quickly with the right partner.”