Professor Sudha Rao, senior researcher and head of QIMR Berghofer’s Gene Regulation and Translational Medicine Group, have developed two peptide-based drugs now being tested in hamsters at IDMIT, a pre-clinical and clinical research facility in France.
Research has been conducted in QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia regarding two drugs for the prevention spreading COVID-19 with those that have been infected.
Professor Sudha Rao, senior researcher and head of QIMR Berghofer’s Gene Regulation and Translational Medicine Group, have developed two peptide-based drugs now being tested in hamsters at IDMIT, a pre-clinical and clinical research facility in France.
Results are promising. The drug is reported to have very few side effects and it is non-toxic.
Vaccines are slower because they rely on human body’s own immune system learning to mount immunity, Rao told Australian Associated Press (AAP). Rao also told AAP- “These are the first drugs we are aware of that can operate on dual fronts.
“We hope, if the clinical trials are successful, that the first drug could be given as a therapy alongside vaccination to prevent the virus binding to cells and taking hold, while the second peptide could be used to stop the virus replicating in already-infected patients.”
Could this be good for those who have not been vaccinated?
“Our drugs are a very rapid fix. So basically, if someone is exposed, if someone believes that they are exposed, then these drugs work very quickly to prevent the virus from replicating or entering,” Rao said. “What’s important here is that in this pandemic, COVID-19 is here to stay and we’re going to need multiple tools in our toolbox.”
The drugs could also be significant for people who haven’t been vaccinated or who are unable to get vaccinations due to allergies or illness.
These peptide-based drugs are aimed at preventing infection in the first place, and at reducing the severity of the disease before it really takes hold,” Seddiki said.
Source: qimrberghofer.edu.au
