Human trials for a type of cancer drug to treat Covid-19 are set to begin, with the hopes of stopping the virus in its tracks before it leaves the nose and throat.
‘Researchers the cancer drug will get rid of Covid-19 all together in an infected patient. They believe it will stop it from spreading to other people because if you remove the spike protein from the virus, then it's not able to infect anyone else either.’
Lead developer, Professor David Morris told Xinhua news agency on Monday that the drug works by dissolving spike proteins on the surface of Covid-19 and making it unable to bond to cells. "(Covid-19) uses that spike protein to lock with a receptor in our cells -- and so no spike protein, no infection," Morris said.
BromAc has already succeeded to render Covid-19 unable to infect cells in a laboratory setting, with plans now to undertake human trials within two to three weeks in the Australian city of Melbourne, the capital of the worst-hit state of Victoria.
Coronavirus
Coronaviruses infect animals, humans, and birds. Human coronaviruses, such as SARS, MERS, and 2019-nCoV cause respiratory distress and even death. The S protein is the infectious agent of the virus.
Coronaviruses infect animals, humans, and birds. Human coronaviruses, such as SARS, MERS, and 2019-nCoV cause respiratory distress and even death. The S protein is the infectious agent of the virus.
"We think it will get rid of Covid-19 all together in an infected patient. We also believe it will stop it from spreading to other people because if you remove the spike protein from the virus, then it’s not able to infect anyone else either," he said.
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According to its developers, BromAc is entirely safe and has been used in cancer patients at 100 times the dosage being recommended for Covid-19 and Morris himself has used the drug over an extended period to prove that it has no ill-effects.
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Morris hopes that should human trials prove successful, large batches could quickly be rolled out across Australia and then internationally.
"I think that all approaches to Covid-19 at the moment are relevant internationally. It’s clearly a huge problem in the world," he said.
"And if we had something that was able to interrupt the progress of this disease, that would be useful."
As of Monday, Australia has reported a total of 23,288 coronavirus cases, with 396 deaths.
--IANS
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Source-IANS
