Researchers at Northern Arizona University have come up with a one-two punch they claim knocks out COVID-19. It combines an ovarian cancer medication with remdesivir to stop the virus from entering cells and inhibit its replication.
Researchers at NAU’s COVID-19 Testing Service Center (CTSC) found that the drug stenoparib, which is in clinical trials to treat ovarian cancer, blocked the replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in lab tests. They paired stenoparib with remdesivir, which is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat COVID-19, according to an NBC news outlet in Phoenix.
“What you try to do with drug combinations is you try to minimize the harmful effects of either drug and you try to capitalize on their beneficial effects,” said Christopher Todd French, Ph.D., director of the CTSC.
French said his team would be testing stenoparib on the virus variants including the ones from the U.K., South Africa, and Brazil.
“There’s no reason to suspect that it won’t be equally effective against those,” he said, adding that further testing would be required, and that hopefully, stenoparib will be used in a clinical setting in the future.