‘After two small studies, a cheap drug shows promise. But scientists still feel burned by hydroxychloroquine.
‘Repurposing is a long shot, yet compared to creating drugs and vaccines, the approach has clear advantages during a fast-moving pandemic. “If it works and it’s on the shelf, you don’t have any development time,” said Lisa Danzig, a specialist in infectious diseases who consults with companies, investors, government and philanthropies. One of the best treatments in the Covid arsenal — the common steroid dexamethasone — is a repurposed drug. But it is recommended only for hospitalized patients who are seriously ill.
‘Danzig was “very excited” last April by news that a team led by University of California-San Francisco researchers had identified 69 possible drugs that, when used early on, might counteract infections with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid. “I’m thinking, if we can rapidly test some of these in clinical trials, we can have answers by October.”
‘Yet these studies struggled to get off the ground...’
Read here (Undark, Mar 30, 2021)
