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Indian scientists have identified drugs and possible cocktails that could target vital proteins of the novel coronavirus, and might possibly help treat COVID-19.
Using a virtual screening of this DrugBank database, the study published in the journal Scientific Reports, identified a variety of as yet unexplored ways to attack SARS-CoV-2, even as it mutates.
The Drugbank database is a compound space of compounds approved by FDA and molecules beneath medication trials.
The researchers from Alagappa University in Tamil Nadu and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden suggest a list of individual drugs and cocktails which deserve testing for treating COVID-19.
A key part of the study, the researchers said, is the identification of drugs that target or bind to multiple proteins that are crucial for replication of the virus, and which are also included in the initial phase of host-cell infection.
According to Vaibhav Srivastava and Arul Murugan, the corresponding authors of the study, multi-targeting provides an effective route to deal with drug resistance, which might allow a medication to work around mutations of the virus.
“The virus is mutating rapidly, which means that it is modifying its proteins. If we have a medication that may target several proteins, and if one becomes mutated, the drug will be effective on the others,” Srivastava said.
This attribute allowed the team to indicate cocktails which have flexibility.
“It had been possible for us to propose cocktails, or blends of medication, in which each drug can bind to a particular target protein with high affinity,” he said.
The analysis proposed one cocktail, baloxavir marboxil, natamycin and RU85053, which targets the three viral proteins respectively, 3CL Main protease, papain-like protease and RdRp.
The researchers noted that these drug cocktails have proven effective in the treatment of other virally-transmitted diseases, such as HIV.
Murugan claims the reliability of the strategy was validated by the fact that the screening also identified drugs which are already in clinical trial.
Such studies can provide valuable insights regarding why certain drugs were shown to be ineffective, the researchers said.
For instance, the drug hydroxychloroquine has been non-effective mainly due to the poor binding affinity towards viral proteins, they said.
Other medications that the study recommended for testing were tivantinib, olaparib, zoliflodacin, golvatinib, sonidegib, regorafenib and PCO-371.
The research also provides a listing of multi-targeting drugs such as DB04016, phthalocyanine, tadalafil, which can also be effective in combating the rapidly-mutating coronavirus.
