Two drugs for Gaucher’s disease can be effective against COVID, claim Israeli scientists

As the coronavirus outbreak continues to tighten its grip on some parts of the world, there is still no proven treatment for COVID-19 disease. While health professionals across the globe are resorting to ‘hitting and trial’ method as and when they discover new drugs, Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday that two drugs, that are used to treat the genetic disorder, Gaucher’s disease are also effective in combatting the novel coronavirus along with other fatal pathogens.

The animal-origin virus which was discovered only in December 2019 in China has now infected over 5.6 million and killed 352,235 people globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. 

Scientists at Institute for Biological Research run by the Israeli Defense Ministry have discovered a combination of Cerdelga, drug approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, and Venglustat that has almost completed its approval process, that can be a potential treatment for COVID-19. According to the Ministry of Defense, the revelation can fast-track the process of treating COVID-19 patients and it has proposed to inject both drugs together in infected individuals. The newly-discovered combination is currently being tested on animals and the effectiveness is being monitored. 

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Drugs inhibit coronavirus replication

The Ness Ziona-based defence laboratory has already published the results of the two drugs that are being tested on mice. However, even though the article has not yet been reviewed by peers, it has stated that the medications had stopped the replication of the viruses in the bodies of the infected rodents. The scientists have found that the two drugs used to cure the genetic disorder, reportedly common among the Ashkenazi Jews, causes the formation of molecules called glycosphingolipids that in turn seem to inhibit the viral infection. 

Israeli MOD said, "The experiment showed that treatment with the two drugs derived significantly reduced the replication capacity of the coronavirus, causing destruction and mortality of the infected cell. This decrease prevents cell damage after infection." 

The researchers have also elaborated that the combination of Cerdelga and Venglustat has shown positive results in rodents infected with other RNA viruses like the mosquito-transmitted Neuroinvasive Sindbis virus and West Nile virus along with another strain of flu, Influenza A and SARS-CoV-2. The drugs not only inhibited the replication of viruses in mice for all four cases but in some SVNI infected rodents, the combination showed an increase in the survival rate.

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