During a public health emergency, reusing existing drugs is considered a quick route to potential cures, so several companies and academic groups have spent much of the past year looking for COVID-19 drugs in drugs already on the market. Now, a research team in China has identified an approved chemotherapy drug as a potential treatment for coronavirus.
Using a combination of computer screening tools, scientists at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIAT) have shown that Acrotech Biopharma Folotyn (pralatrexate), a chemotherapy originally developed to treat lymphoma, can be a potent remedy against SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus behind COVID-19.
They found that pralatrexate inhibited SARS-CoV-2 replication more strongly than Gilead Sciences remivable under the same experimental conditions, according to results published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology. Remdesivir, sold as Veklury, is approved by the FDA for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Artificial intelligence is widely used in drug research, and the SIAT team realized that a hybrid approach using deep learning and molecular simulation could be a better solution than one based on a single method.
The team used different AI platforms to track a library of 1,906 drugs currently marketed for their ability to bind coronavirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP). For RNA viruses like SARS-CoV-2, RdRp is essential for copying the genomic information that allows them to infect cells and survive. Gilead demonstrated that remdesivir binds to RdRp and interferes with coronavirus RNA synthesis.
The computational model identified four candidates: pralatrexate, antibiotics, amoxicillin and azithromycin, and Gilead’s hepatitis C drug, Sovaldi (sofosbuvir).
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Two of the drugs – pralatrexate and azithromycin – inhibited the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in cells. SIAT researchers admitted that chemotherapy is associated with several side effects and its use is limited to an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma called peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Therefore, the drug may have limited clinical use for patients with COVID-19.
However, the study supports the use of a hybrid virtual screen to “help with drug reuse application and facilitate virtual drug screening against other targets in SARS-CoV-2,” wrote the scientists in the study.
Many artificial intelligence-based drug screening methods have been applied to COVID-19’s drug reuse research. Previous efforts have also pointed to azithromycin as a potential treatment for COVID. And a team at the Cleveland Clinic used AI to analyze nearly 27,000 individuals in their COVID-19 registry and found that those who took melatonin to sleep were less likely to test positive for the new coronavirus.
A successful example of AI-based research is the identification of BenevolentAI from the drug for rheumatoid arthritis Olumiant by Eli Lilly as a potential therapy for COVID-19. The JAK inhibitor gained emergency clearance from the FDA as a supplement to remit for hospitalized COVID patients who need oxygen support after showing that the combination can reduce recovery time.
The SIAT team is now working on developing additional computational methods that hope to generate new drugs to treat COVID-19, the company said in a statement.