Coronavirus is currently the biggest scare of the medical world and with its slow-spreading, it is affecting larger populations quickly. In some recent updates, it is clear that coronavirus is affecting middle eastern countries, south Asian countries, South Korea, and the USA. Though the spreading speed has slowed down a lot in the city of Wuhan, China; but it is still a major concern in parts of the globe. To control the spread people are told to stay alert, take precautionary measures and get medical help as soon as possible. However, medical centers are on the constant lookout for drugs that can help in tackling the covid-19 infection.
Rescue for Coronavirus
Gilead sciences have a hepatitis C drug that is FDA approved and has till now shown remarkable effects in treating and curing hepatitis C. It is a direct-acting antiviral drug and is composed of sofosbuvir and velpatasvir. In recent findings by the Columbian engineering researchers, it is quite clear that the Anti-HIV drugs can be effective in coronavirus infections as well. The reason behind this is the fact that both the viruses have a similar replication process, and thus if it is effective on the hep C virus then it can show similar results on covid-19 as well.
How the drug works
The drug effects on the viral replication of the Hep C virus by inhibiting the nucleotide polymerase which is responsible for genetic replication. Researchers are creating nucleotide analogues for stopping the polymerase, and sofosbuvir is a promising polymerase terminator. This can lead to terminated viral replication and thus can substantially decrease the viral infection in the body by reducing the number of viral particles. Researchers are quite confident that this drug can be effective, and thus is talking with NIH’s and CDC to take further steps. If the exclude turned out to be useful, then it can help largely in tackling the scary coronavirus.
