January 27th – At present, there is no recognized specific drug on the market for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
The research team of Japan’s National Center for International Medical Research said on the 26th that a number of related substances that can hinder the reproduction of the novel coronavirus have been found, and future research will be carried out with the goal of clinical application.
According to the Japan Broadcasting Association (NHK), Hiroaki Manya, director of the Institute of the National Center for International Medical Research of Japan, said that since February 2020.
The research team has focused on the enzyme called “protease” needed for COVID-19 to reproduce in cells, and is committed to researching the work that hinder enzymes and developing prevention.
Therapeutic drugs to stop viral reproduction.
So far, the scientific research team has synthesized more than 400 chemicals, using these substances to experiment on infected cells, and found that the two substances combined with enzymes have a particularly good effect in inhibiting the reproduction of the virus.
When one of these substances is combined with the drug remdesivir used to treat patients with the novel coronavirus, the reproductive rate of the virus was suppressed to one in 100 million.
Director Manya said that “we will further synthesize better substances” and said that animal experiments will be carried out in the future, aiming at clinical applications.
