It can take anywhere between a few years to several decades for researchers to develop drugs for various illnesses. However, time is not a luxury that has been afforded to researchers working on therapies to treat patients suffering from the coronavirus. This is why researchers from Northeastern University, in collaboration with Harvard University researchers, devised another way to find treatments for this fatal disease by analyzing treatments already in existence. The group of researchers have published their findings in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”
The researchers analyzed all treatments currently available to patients for the treatment of a multitude of illnesses and have found four candidates they believe could help treat the coronavirus.
Deisy Morselli Gysi, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Complex Network Research, explained that not every individual could obtain access to the vaccine. The group conducted the study because a drug that could either eliminate the virus or at least prevent it from reproducing would be helpful to both physicians and patients.
Examining drugs that already exist is cheaper and faster than developing a new drug, as the drugs have already been approved by the authorities and can be used in clinical trials to ascertain whether they can work to eliminate new or different diseases. However, doing this for every drug in the market is not efficient given that thousands of drugs exist.
That’s why the team of researchers used a network medicine approach to scan a database of drugs that may be useful in treating the coronavirus. The researchers assessed the network of cellular interactions that take place as the SARS-CoV-2 virus established itself in an individual then used that information to find drugs that could impede that process. Using network science tools and AI, they found about 7,000 potential drugs. Out of those, the researchers selected more than 900 for further screening in order to discover whether they would be effective treatments for the coronavirus.
Next, the researchers tested the drugs in green monkey cells then selected the ones that performed best and tested them in human cells. Of the total number of drugs that were screened, the researchers found that six killed the virus without eliminating human cells as well. They noted that four of those six drugs could be repurposed and used in coronavirus patients. The researchers plan to conduct clinical trials testing the effectiveness of these drugs in an attempt to discover whether they will work in humans.
Something that has been found to potentially benefit humans is the use of supplements to support health and well-being. Healthy Extracts Inc. (OTCQB: HYEX) is one of the leading companies that is helping to make plant-based formulations more readily available to people in different jurisdictions.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Healthy Extracts Inc. (OTCQB: HYEX) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/HYEX
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