
Göttingen researchers identify existing drug with potential to treat Covid-19 - mpweiher
https://www.dpz.eu/en/home/single-view/news/die-vermehrung-von-sars-coronavirus-2-im-menschen-verhindern.html
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DuskStar
If it's not in clinical trials yet, it's not worth talking about. Pretty sure
there's a few dozen in the same category as this drug.

EDIT: I don't mean that this isn't already approved for human use. But there's
a whole list [0] of existing drugs being tested, and a lot of them are
effective in vitro.

0:
[https://www.nature.com/articles/d41587-020-00003-1](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41587-020-00003-1)

~~~
mkagenius
> If it's not in clinical trials yet

Only if its harmful. What if the drug has been in use for other disease with
known side effects, will we still wait for clinical trials?

~~~
denzil_correa
It depends on the risk profile. A loss of hair for a cancer drug won't be a
big deal but might be problematic for common cold.

~~~
tenant
I won't have that side effect anyway

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vincnetas
Took me a while, but i see what you did there ;)

~~~
malkia
Yes, same here - I'm the star of the Bald & Beautiful in my family, but I
don't want to influence my receding hair choices to them, unless you plan on
landing male role in future Fast & Furious, Die Hard, or any Rock-infused
movie.

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ramboldio
Here is an official blog post by the authors:
[https://www.dpz.eu/en/home/single-view/news/die-
vermehrung-v...](https://www.dpz.eu/en/home/single-view/news/die-vermehrung-
von-sars-coronavirus-2-im-menschen-verhindern.html)

~~~
dang
Thanks! We changed to that from [https://techstartups.com/2020/03/06/german-
researchers-ident...](https://techstartups.com/2020/03/06/german-researchers-
identify-existing-drug-potential-treat-coronavirus-covid-19-drug-blocks-entry-
virus-lung-cells/).

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linuxdude314
Chloroquine Phosphate has also been shown to have high efficacy and has
already been tested in over 500 patients in China.

Fortunately it’s a drug that’s been around for 50+ years originally for
malaria prophylaxis and is easy enough to synthesize.

The downside, is that it is unlikely to be found in the US since we don’t deal
with malaria very much.

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/32075365/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/32075365/)

~~~
fspeech
At the dosage recommended here one could suffer acute drug toxicity. The
national guideline has since moderated the prescribed doses.

~~~
yumraj
What is the prescribed dosage?

Also, curious if there is any difference between chloroquine phosphate and
sulphate, since I came across both while just reading up on it. Or, either
works.

~~~
fspeech
You can find Korean recommendation here
[http://m.koreabiomed.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=7428](http://m.koreabiomed.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=7428)

Chinese recommendation is more aggressive and dependent on patient weight:
[https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/coronavirus-
treatment-p...](https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/coronavirus-treatment-
plan-7/)

Beware these drugs have side effects and interaction with other drugs. A
particular feature is that they stay in the body for a very long time. It goes
without saying that they should only used under the direction of a
knowledgeable physician.

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theothermkn
Some in here have been asking about risks and side effects. A quick google
search turned up:

[https://www.practo.com/medicine-
info/camostat-2499-api](https://www.practo.com/medicine-
info/camostat-2499-api)

I'm just a layperson, but this looks like a run-of-the-mill prescription drug.
Hope this helps to allay some concerns and keep the signal-to-noise ratio
higher.

~~~
Yoric
Well, testing is still needed to determine the appropriate dosage. If the
dosage is lower or identical to the prescription drug, it's all good. If it
ends up being much higher, this may be a big problem.

~~~
alkonaut
So to clarify: it can be tested directly on patients now, in the dosage it’s
already approved for in previous trials, without the need for (or at the same
time as) formal trials?

And this should be the case for most such existing drugs?

Or are drugs only approved for specific uses so doctors can’t do this?

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rectalogic
They tested this drug in mice with SARS/MERS in 2016
[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016635421...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354215000248?via%3Dihub)

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samuel27
From this article
[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016635421...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354215000248?via%3Dihub)
the supposition would be that the dosages needed of Camostat mesylate -
extrapolating from the dosage used for mice...would be quite large to have any
effect. Any thoughts/speculations?

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fspeech
The critical question here is the same with any other candidate drug: what is
the level of concentration needed to achieve the desired antiviral effect and
can it be safely reached at the targeted tissue?

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rv-de
Any qualified opinions on Gilead and Remdesivir? Bought stocks just to see it
decline 15%. Now its price is improving again.

~~~
Reason077
I used to jog past Gilead's offices in Hayes (West London) all the time.
Always reminded me of _The Handmaid 's Tale_.

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m3kw9
If it needs to be prescribed it needs to past trials, as with half dozen drugs
already identified

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3fe9a03ccd14ca5
> _Moreover, their study suggests that antibody responses raised against SARS-
> CoV could at least partially protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection._

Interesting idea. Infect everyone with the “mild” version of SARS to protect
against the severe one.

~~~
mytailorisrich
SARS (SARS-CoV) is more lethal than Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2)...

You certainly don't want to infect anyone with SARS!

~~~
Wistar
Aren't viral vaccinations typically a "dead" strain of the virus? Although I
don't really understand what, exactly, that means.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
That is one kind of vaccination, but it's not the only kind, right?

~~~
Wistar
I dug around and found vaccines.gov which says that there are four vaccine
types:

• Live-attenuated vaccines: these use a weakened (or attenuated) form of the
germ that causes a disease.

• Inactivated vaccines: these use the killed version of the germ that causes a
disease.

• Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines: these use
specific pieces of the germ — like its protein, sugar, or capsid (a casing
around the germ).

• Toxoid vaccines: these use a toxin (harmful product) made by the germ that
causes a disease. They create immunity to the parts of the germ that cause a
disease instead of the germ itself.

[https://www.vaccines.gov/basics/types](https://www.vaccines.gov/basics/types)

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SlipperySlope
Essentially... "“We have tested SARS-CoV-2 isolated from a patient and found
that camostat mesilate blocks entry of the virus into lung cells,” says Markus
Hoffmann, the lead author of the study. Camostat mesilate is a drug approved
in Japan for use in pancreatic inflammation. “Our results suggest that
camostat mesilate might also protect against COVID-19,” says Markus Hoffmann.
“This should be investigated in clinical trials.”

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dna_polymerase
This article has a little more insight:
[https://techstartups.com/2020/03/06/german-researchers-
ident...](https://techstartups.com/2020/03/06/german-researchers-identify-
existing-drug-potential-treat-coronavirus-covid-19-drug-blocks-entry-virus-
lung-cells/)

~~~
dang
That was the originally submitted URL. Did you mean to recommend a different
one?

~~~
dna_polymerase
Ops, no. I must've found this URL after it was already changed or something.

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baybal2
Is the website down?

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denzil_correa
Here's a link to the paper

[https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)30229-4](https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674\(20\)30229-4)

~~~
mrep
Ah, that's why this looked familiar. That link was posted 2 days ago and made
front page:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22500063](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22500063)

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tus88
Vaccine is better.

~~~
vikramkr
And not having the disease exist is best. We do our best with what we've got
and keep pushing every line of attack. Something is better than nothing.

