In the fight against Corona, not only vaccines are needed, but also drugs. The Berlin Charité has now announced details of a promising project.
Berlin – Usually doctors use the remedy against tapeworms. Scientists are getting creative, especially under the pressure of the pandemic. That is why they are now examining the use of “Niclosamid” against Corona *.
The Berlin Charité announced this Monday that a clinical study is being conducted to determine whether the tapeworm drug niclosamide is effective against Covid-19 *.
Medicine against Covid-19: Charité in Berlin is testing the use of tapeworm remedies
Researchers from the German Center for Infection Research at the Charité and the University of Bonn analyzed how the virus * reprogrammed the host cell’s metabolism in its favor. As they reported in the journal Nature Communications , they were able to identify four active substances that inhibit the replication of the virus in cells: the body’s own substances spermine and spermidine, the experimental cancer drug MK-2206 and the tapeworm drug niclosamide.
The latter reduced the production of infectious Sars-CoV-2 particles by more than 99 percent and thus showed the greatest antiviral effect.
Study on Covid 19 drug: “Niclosamide shown the strongest effect”
“Niclosamide has shown the strongest effect in our cell culture studies and has also been a drug that has been approved for tapeworm infections for years,” explained Marcel Müller from the Charité. It is also well tolerated at potentially effective doses. “We think it is the most promising of the four new drug candidates.”
In the clinical study, the Charité now wants to check whether the agent can be safely used, tolerated and effective in patients with recently diagnosed Covid-19 *. We are still looking for participants for the study. (AFP / frs) * Merkur.de and 24hamburg.de are offers from IPPEN.MEDIA
