What do drugs for lice, HIV and Ebola share? They could treat coronavirus, experts say
As the number of global coronavirus cases near two million with no cure or vaccine in sight, scientists are turning elsewhere for treatment options.
Drugs designed to combat viral infections like HIV and Ebola have shown promise, as have anti-malarial drugs and treatments for an autoimmune disease like lupus. Some prescription drugs have even received emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in COVID-19 patients.
None have full FDA approval for treating or preventing the coronavirus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But several are on their way. Here’s a look at some of the contenders.
Hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine
These similar drugs used for Malaria and lupus arrived on scene early in the pandemic as a possible treatment option.
President Donald Trump has touted hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine as the treatments of choice, and the FDA issued emergency authorization of the drugs for use in coronavirus patients without access to a clinical trial.
Those trials started earlier this month with patients in Tennessee, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Initial studies outside the U.S. suggested COVID-19 patients receiving hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine showed marked improvement, but some scientists and researchers have backtracked on those claims in recent days.
In Brazil, the New York Times reported a study was “halted early for safety reasons after coronavirus patients taking a higher dose of chloroquine developed irregular heart rates that increased their risk of a potentially fatal heart arrhythmia.”
Still, at least five clinical trials for hydroxychloroquine were ongoing across the globe in early April, Medscape reported. It is not, however, “currently recommended for further investigation” by the World Health Organization, according to Medscape.
Remdesivir
This “failed Ebola drug” is getting a second chance during the coronavirus pandemic, LiveScience reported.
It’s one of several COVID-19 treatment options currently included in the WHO’s international clinical trial known as “Solidarity,” a single randomized trial of four different drugs at participating hospitals across the globe.
Though Remdesivir didn’t show any effect on Ebola patients tested in the Democratic Republic of the Congo last year, the current pandemic may be its “second chance to shine,” according to Science Magazine.
“It has generated promising results in animal studies for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which are also caused by coronaviruses, suggesting it may have some effect in patients with COVID-19,” the WHO said.
Ivermectin
Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug that’s also used to treat head lice, ABC reported.
It’s still too early in the research phase to be considered a viable treatment option, but according to ABC, “experts are expressing cautious optimism.” Scientists at Monash University in Australia found a single dose of ivermectin could kill the virus that causes COVID-19 in under 48 hours.
“Ivermectin is very widely used and seen as a safe drug,” Dr. Kylie Wagstaff, who led the study, said in an university news release. “We need to figure out now whether the dosage you can use it at in humans will be effective – that’s the next step.”
The FDA, however, was quick to clarify in a letter on April 10 that the virus did respond to ivermectin “when exposed in a petri dish,” but said it hasn’t been tested on humans or animals yet.
It currently has FDA approval in tablet form to treat some parasitic worms in humans as well as topical form to treat “external parasites” like head lice or rosacea. Animals can also take it to prevent heart worm disease or treat “certain internal and external parasites,” the letter states.
“FDA is concerned about the health of consumers who may self-medicate by taking ivermectin products intended for animals, thinking they can be a substitute for ivermectin intended for humans,” the FDA said. “People should never take animal drugs... These animal drugs can cause serious harm in people.”
Ritonavir/lopinavir
This drug combination used to treat HIV is sold under the name Kaletra, Science Magazine reported. It’s also included in the WHO’s “Solidarity” trial.
“While there are indications from laboratory experiments that this combination may be effective against COVID-19, studies done so far in COVID-19 patients have been inconclusive,” according to the WHO.
An early study in Wuhan, China — the center of the global pandemic — was “not encouraging,” Science Magazine reported. Between patients given the drugs in addition to standard care and those who only received standard care, the magazine said “there was no significant difference.”
But the authors of the study did couch their findings by saying most of the people receiving lopinavir/ritonavir were already very sick, and the treatment consequently may have come “too late.”
EIDD-2801
EIDD-2801 is a new drug discovered by researchers at Emory University in Atlanta.
According to a university news release, it showed “promise in reducing lung damage” in mice and is now headed to human clinical trials. Viral epidemiologists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are working to test it.
Mice given EIDD-2801 within 24 to 48 hours of being infected with the coronavirus were shown with reduced lung damage and weight loss. The “window of opportunity,” according to Emory University, could be longer for humans.
“This new drug not only has high potential for treating COVID-19 patients, but also appears effective for the treatment of other serious coronavirus infections,” senior author Dr. Ralph Baric said in the news release.
