TheT drugs that may conquer Covid

AUSTRALIAN researchers have identified 12 medicines already approved for use in treating other conditions that could quickly be adapted to fight Covid.

They include common antihistamine medications, drugs used to prevent nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing chemotherapy, an antidepressant and three cancer medications.

The scientists are seeking $1.5 million in funding to test three of the most promising drugs against Covid in a potentially game-changing phase 1 human clinical trial.

Despite the speedy development of vaccines, more than 13,000 Australians died of the virus this year and new treatments are desperately needed.

Although the new Pfizer medication Paxlovid cuts hospitalisation rates by 89 per cent, it can’t be widely used because it interacts with many other medications people are taking.

Another anti-viral, Lagevrio, was originally found to be 30 per cent effective at preventing hospitalisation and death but new research suggests it is not that effective against the latest Covid variants.

A handful of Covid remedies called monoclonal antibodies that were developed to treat the original Covid virus are also not as effective against new variants.

The new research, published in International Journal

Molecular Sciences, was conducted using a $1 million grant from Australia’s Medical Research Future Fund.

The team of scientists was led by Australian researcher Seshadri Vasan, honorary professor at the UK’S University of York, and Monash University’s Natalie Trevaskis.

They looked at 7817 FDAapproved drugs and applied a variety of filters to identify those most likely to work against Covid.