Nathan Jeffay is the health and science correspondent for The Times of Israel
Israeli scientists say their new COVID drug candidate is “very promising,” after reducing the amount of virus in hamsters by a percentage.
The drug works by sabotaging the virus’ attempts to create an environment for it to grow, and is based on two decades of studies at Hebrew University.
Isaiah Arkin, a professor of biological chemistry, said the technique his team uses has the potential to detect new and emerging variants of the coronavirus, and a wide variety of viruses beyond COVID-19, in addition to influenza, Zika, West Nile virus and hepatitis B.
In an interview with The Times of Israel, he spoke about a new experiment comparing the perspective of the as-yet-unknown drug candidate and said, “We have inflamed hamsters, which are very good at testing responses to COVID-19, with the virus. We gave 8 of them our oral drug candidate and 8 of them a placebo. After 4 days, we “slaughter” the animals and measure the amount of virus in their lungs.
“We compared the amount of virus from those who took the drug with those who took the placebo, and found that it was 93% lower, which is an impressive and very promising result. What we are doing now is optimizing the compound and increasing the budget to conduct preclinical studies in humans,” Arkin said.
“At the same time, we’re going to use our technique for other viruses and we’re making progress with the flu. “
The hamster studies were recently conducted through an evaluation team from the pharmaceutical studies company Evotec, not Arkin’s lab. it expects to begin human trials for the coronavirus within a year.
Over the years, Arkin’s team has contributed to the development of an understanding of the importance of viruses in their acidity and salinity levels, and of their environment in their host’s body.
“Since this regulation is vital for the virus, the concept is that if you inhibit the creation of this optimal environment, you inhibit the virus,” he explained. “There was limited interest in this from a practical standpoint, but when the pandemic suddenly started, there was a wonderful interest in viruses. “
At the time, he created a startup, ViroBlock, with that of Yissum, the Hebrew University’s generational moving company.
Arkin, now CEO of ViroBlock, said: “We made the temporary decision to capitalise on our understanding and produce molecules that inhibit the virus’ ability for its acidity and salinity and that of its environment, prompting the existing drug candidate.
He added: “Our technique allows us to temporarily identify targets for a new risk or viral variant, expand the inhibitors that oppose and the prospective resistance of the virus that opposes the new drug, all at an unprecedented rate.
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