The search for an effective Covid therapy goes on… This Wednesday August 11, 2021, WHO announced three new therapies – potentially effective against the virus – were soon to enter a clinical trial phase. The goal of these trials? Assessing their effectiveness in Covid patients. “Today we are pleased to announce the next phase in the Solidarity trial, called Solidarity PLUS. Solidarity PLUS will test three drugs: artesunate, a treatment for severe malaria; imatinib, a drug for certain cancers; and infliximab, a treatment for immune system disorders such as Crohn’s disease”, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, giving the name of the three therapies on trial.
WHO also specifies these three drugs have been selected by an independent expert panel. As for the clinical trials, they are to take place in over 600 hospitals across 52 countries. And results are expected – as the World Health Organization Director General also explains – in September 2021.
More specifically, artesunate is a therapy originally used for severe malaria. “Artesunate-pyronaridine can be considered a safe and efficacious artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in adults and children weighing 5 kg and over in all malaria-endemic areas”, a note issued in 2019 by WHO explains.
As for the other two therapies entering the clinical trial, imatinib and infliximab, the first one is used as a therapy for certain cancers especially leukemias and some gastrointestinal cancers, issued as a capsule. The second drug is used against immune system disorders. Monoclonal antibody, it plays a major part in treating joint and cutaneous psoriasis, as well as in rheumatoid arthritis, among others.
Please note three more drugs are currently under rolling review. Three drugs discovered by a team of Israeli scientists, darapladib, flumatinib and one last which name has not been specified.
