COVID-19: drugs tests to run
Experts believe that the development of a vaccine against the Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 even longer. Therefore, it is increasingly working to be able to the disease COVID-19 better it is to treat. This will be not only developed new drugs but also existing drugs tested. Currently, Tests are being conducted with promising drugs.
Even if the Corona pandemic continues now already for months, there is still no internationally approved agent active against the novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 induced disease COVID-19. Researchers from Austria are now testing promising COVID-19 drugs of SARS-CoV-2 samples.
Effect tested in cell culture experiments
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According to a message to be tested in the BSL-3 laboratory at the Medical University of Graz, the laboratory with the highest security facilities in Austria, currently available drugs for their effect against SARS-CoV-2-pathogens in cell culture experiments.
In the interdisciplinary research project, the researchers set themselves to the goal of a preclinical drug database to build. Anti viral drugs should thus be significantly faster clinical application. In addition, drugs for the therapy to be developed already infected COVID-19-patients and in-patients.
Faster availability with high efficiency
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As it says in the message, preceded by the development of vaccines against the Coronavirus in the world with unprecedented speed. However, it often takes years before a suitable vaccine is available.
Therefore, a research project of the Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib), the Medical University of Graz and the Graz-based Biotech company Innophore focused in addition to to locate, Evaluate and pre-clinical Testing of a particular class of active ingredients, the faster availability of high-effect links.
The talk is of anti-viral drugs, such as those developed against HIV, MERS, or SARS. These inhibit enzymes that are in need of virus for propagation, in their activity, and prevent the Penetration of viruses in, for example, lung cells. Thus, the medium can on the one hand prevent the infection of cells, and on the other hand, the multiplication of viruses in infected cells to suppress. Both strategies are Affected important pillars for the treatment of COVID-19 -.
Potential drug candidates identified
Because many of these drugs are already approved on the market, it can be converted relatively quickly corona medication. “This Repurposing has the advantage that chemical substances 19 patients are quicker identifiable, and due to their already have been admitted for other diseases very fast for COVID-applicable,” explains Innophore-CEO and acib-Senior Researcher Christian Gruber.
“In the first step, we focus on active ingredients make against the Coronavirus to find. Therefore, we screen in another project, through the use of computer modeling and simulations, more than two billion individual active compounds against COVID-19“, the expert continues.
In addition, the cooperation project will be supplemented in the acib-the computer-based search with high-throughput screening in the laboratory. According to the figures, robot systems test on the one hand, in computer models of the proposed medication, and on the other hand, new Compounds from libraries of hundreds of thousands of chemical Compounds directly in the laboratory for their effect. Show Real, whether the voices are computer-models and the return of the real measured data in the simulations, the prediction accuracy of the computer models can be improved.
“We are pleased that we were able to identify a number of potential drug candidates,” says Gruber. Currently, these Starting materials in the BSL-3 high-security laboratory at the medical University of Graz are optimized and different in-vitro Tests, their Suitability for future clinical studies to clarify.
Highly Infectious Viruses
In order to test substances for their effect, they must be specially increased, living pathogens such as the highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus in cell cultures are brought together. To ensure the protection of people and the environment, is demanded, therefore, a laboratory infrastructure, as it stands at the Med Campus Graz.
“The BSL-3 laboratory has the in Austria, currently the highest available security standard for laboratories”, said Kurt Zatloukal from the diagnostics and research Institute of pathology of the Medical University of Graz.
The in-vitro Tests of anti-viral drugs following three phases: “The first phase of the Covid-19 experiments has already been successfully completed. We conduct cytotoxicity tests, in order to ensure that the Compounds do not cause General damage to the cells, and determine in a further step, in which the concentration of the substance used can be,“ says Zatloukal and Gruber.
To do this, they got, among other things, of the Medical University of Vienna OC-43 isolates (a sub-group of corona viruses) and by the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the isolated SARS-CoV-2 strain of the virus, and virus cultures that were created from a total of 17 Styrian COVID-19-patients and different genetic variants of the Virus include. According to the researchers conducted experiments can provide information on whether a drug can prevent the multiplication of the virus.
The development time is shortened
In the second, recently launched phase of the process, the researchers will test the Compounds for their effectiveness against COVID-19. In order to as accurately as possible the absorption and effect – as well as possible side effects – of drugs in the human body replicate, so-called human Organoids for use.
“The are is similar to lab-grown cell groups, the structure and skills similar to those of organs. This next Generation of innovative, organic Tools makes it possible to investigate the effect of substances in cells outside of the body – very carefully,“ says Zatloukal.
“We try, as much Information as possible about the substances in the human body can behave in such a model, shell, organs in the Petri query. Thus, the use of animals are reduced and the development period of SARS-CoV-2-drugs shortened.“
New groups of Drugs to develop
In the last Phase, the scientists are testing scientists, whether the genetic diversity of different Virus-subclasses of SARS-CoV-2 affects the the effect of drugs. According to the researchers, the Virus isolates of the Styrian COVID-19 patients sequenced and, together with reference strains from other countries in-vitro and in-silico experiments can be subjected to. This is required to show that a chemical substance could be for a wide clinical use.
“Our research is the so-called pre-clinical development phase of a drug relate to work. The more comprehensive and more convincing the data are, the greater the Chance that the substances of the industry will continue to be developed and, ultimately, for human use, is. What we want to show within the one-year-old, the acib-funded project, is to identify that our approach to anti-viral drugs and to test the effects of, works,“ says Zatloukal.
What is true for the collaborative approach of cooperation, could apply according to the person skilled in the art on the use of drugs: “Possibly, it will need at the end of the combination of several concepts, in order to combat COVID-19.” (ad)