OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – According to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, scientists are now testing both existing and experimental therapies to see if any are effective in treating COVID-19.
Currently, there is no vaccine for coronavirus.
Among the drugs being tested are new and existing antiviral therapies.
OMRF says a drug that’s been in use for more than a half-century is showing promise: chloroquine phosphate. The drug was originally developed to fight malaria.
“It’s also been shown to be very effective in treating patients who have autoimmune diseases like lupus,” said Judith James, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of Clinical Affairs at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. “We use it to treat hundreds of lupus patients at OMRF.”
In China, researchers tested the drug in a multicenter clinical trial to treat pneumonia associated with COVID-19. Preliminary results indicate that the drug appears to show some efficacy as a therapy.
“When malaria gets inside a cell, if you change the pH with a drug like chloroquine phosphate, the malaria can’t live,” said James, an immunologist and rheumatologist. “The same goes for a virus like COVID-19. If you change the pH, the virus cannot assemble, and if it can’t assemble, it can’t infect you.”
James explained that repurposing existing medications is often the fastest path to treating those infected by the virus in a novel way.