Osteoporosis drug can fight infection, say researchers

AN OSTEOPOROSIS drug reduces coronavirus infection by 85 per cent in human cells, say scientists, opening the door to a quick treatment for the pandemic.

The widely used Apilimod is one of 13 drugs found to fight coronavirus when scientists screened nearly 12,000 existing medications to see if any would be of use.

Repurposing drugs is a fast way to find new treatments because safety concerns about their use have already been addressed, which speeds up their availability.

Other drugs discovered to have anticovid-19 properties include an HIV medication called R-82913, and a diabetes treatment.

A drug developed to treat autoimmune disorders such as Crohn’s disease may also be effective, the scientists concluded in a paper published in the journal Nature.

The drugs under review were tested for their ability to prevent the coronavirus from reproducing in human lung tissue.

Apilimod was found to have the largest impact of all, reducing the number of infected cells by 85 per cent.

The study was carried out at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, in California. Commenting on the researchers’ findings, Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor in the University of Leeds School of Medicine, said: “As the pandemic continues to afflict much of the planet, it is clear that having as many weapons in our arsenal as possible to combat this virus is of paramount importance.”

Ian Jones, professor of virology at the University of Reading, added: “This study is a tour de force of the ability to rapidly screen existing drugs for their ability to inhibit coronavirus. The advantage of this approach is that the drugs are already in use for other conditions so could be repurposed immediately for use in Covid-19 cases.

“The disadvantage of any of these drugs, however, is that they need to be given as early as possible in order to stop the damage done by the virus.

“[Because] mild symptoms are common, at least in early infection, any therapies used are not initiated until an individual is in hospital, which is a bit late.”