In a new study, researchers have identified a drug with the potential to provide treatment for COVID-19.
The research was conducted by a team from the University of Kent and elsewhere.
The international team found that the approved protease inhibitor aprotinin displayed activity against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, in concentrations that are achieved in patients.
Aprotinin inhibits the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into host cells and may compensate for the loss of host cell protease inhibitors that are downregulated upon SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Aprotinin aerosols are approved in Russia for the treatment of influenza and could be readily tested for the treatment of COVID-19.
The team says the aprotinin aerosol has been reported to be tolerated extremely well in influenza patients.
Hence, it may have a particular potential to prevent severe COVID-19 disease when applied early after diagnosis.
One author of the study is Professor Martin Michaelis.
The study is published in Cells.
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