CHAPEL HILL – According to researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill, an experimental drug created at a branch of Emory University showed potential to prevent and treat COVID-19.
The drug, known as EIDD-2801, is being developed by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics in Miami. Ridgeback is partnering with drug giant Merck in the development process. The drug, according to Ridgeback, was invented by Drug Innovations at Emory, a non-profit biotechnology company wholly owned by Emory University.
Publish their work in Nature, scientists at the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health tested how the orally administered experimental drug SARS-CoV-2 replication and prevents infection of human cells in a new in vivo [in a living organism] model containing human lung tissue.
They found that the drug was extremely effective in preventing and treating SARS-CoV-2 infection. Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials are underway to evaluate the safety of EIDD-2801 in humans and its effect on viral shedding – when a virus is repeated in your body and released into the environment – in COVID-19 patients .
UNC scientists have created a solution to the problem of mouse models in which coronaviruses do not recur by creating a line of mice with human lung tissue that contains all the primary human cells that are infected when individuals become ill with COVID-19.
‘We found that EIDD-2801 had a remarkable effect on virus replication after only two days of treatment – a dramatic, more than 25,000-fold reduction in the number of infectious particles in human lung tissue when treatment began 24 hours after exposure is ”said senior author J. Victor Garcia, PhD, professor of medicine and director of the International Center for the Advancement of Translational Science. “Virus titers were significantly reduced by 96% when treatment was started 48 hours after exposure.”
Next, the researchers tested the ability of EIDD-2801 to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection by administering the drug 12 hours before the SARS-CoV-2 exposure and every 12 hours thereafter.
“Remarkably, we found that pre-exposure EIDD-2801 prophylaxis significantly inhibited SARS-CoV-2 replication, and reduced the virus titers in the human lung tissue of LoM by more than 100,000-fold in two independent experiments,” Angela said. Wahl, co-first author, said. PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Assistant Director of the International Center for the Advancement of Translational Science.
Bats are the suspected source of SARS-CoV-2 and the highly pathogenic human coronaviruses SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, all of which have emerged in the human population over the past two decades.
‘We show that LoM the in vivo study of all recent human coronaviruses in one platform, ”said Lisa Gralinski, co-author, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology. “Our model enables researchers to directly compare infections between human coronaviruses and the effectiveness of possible preventative and therapeutic approaches.”
Gralinski, added, “We also show efficient replication of endogenous bat coronaviruses in LoM human lung tissue without the prior adaptation of the viruses, confirming that bats contain viruses capable of infecting humans directly without the need for further adaptation. . “
“Previously, we have shown that EIDD-2801 is also effective against SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV infection in vivo and in primary human airway epithelial cultures,” Ralph Baric, PhD, the William Kenan Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology told UNC Gillings School . Global Public Health and the UNC School of Medicine. “Overall, these results indicate that EIDD-2801 may not only be effective in treating and preventing COVID-19, but that it may also be very effective against future coronavirus outbreaks.”
Other authors are Claire Johnson, Wenbo Yao, Martina Kovarova, Kenneth Dinnon III, Hongwei Liu, Victoria Madden, Halina Krzystek, Chandrav De, Kristen White, Kendra Gully, Alexandra Schäfer, Tanzila Zaman, Sarah Leist, Paul Grant, Frederic Askin, Edward Browne, Corbin Jones and Raymond Pickles, all of UNC-Chapel Hill, and Gregory Bluemling, Alexander Kolykhaloy, Michael Natchus, George Painter of Emory University.
This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the North Carolina Coronavirus Relief Fund.
(C) UNC-CH with content contributed by WRAL TechWire