Drug hope for Sars

MIKE BURN · Posted: Wed May 14, 2003 8:00 pm Post subject: Drug hope for Sars

Quote:
Drug hope for Sars/BBC

Drugs already in existence could - with slight modifications - be used to combat the coronavirus thought to be responsible for Sars, German scientists say.

Experts have reached this conclusion after working out the structure of a substance made by the coronavirus called main proteinase.

This enzyme is vital to the survival of the virus, because it enables it to reproduce.

Scientists believe it should be possible to use drugs to lock on to it and stop it from working.

In fact, they believe that some drugs already in existence should do the trick.

However, they would need to be modified to make them effective.

Lead researcher Prof. Dr. Rolf Hilgenfeld, from the University of Lübeck, believes progress towards an effective treatment will be rapid.

He said: "If you hit this target successfully, then you hit the Achilles heel of the virus.

"I think progress could be very fast now because we have a very detailed template for the design of new drugs.

"To turn these into real drugs, including clinical trials and so on, will of course take much longer, probably a couple of years."

Cold virus

The drugs which Professor Hilgenfeld has been working with have been developed to fight cold viruses, and are already in clinical trials.

This suggests that if they were modified to fight coronavirus, they would still probably be safe, though the full regime of clinical trials would still be needed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) remains optimistic that isolation and quarantine measures will be enough to stop the spread of Sars.

But the latest epidemic figures from mainland China and Taiwan suggest that their strategy may not be working - in which case effective drugs will be a high priority.

The researchers did not actually examine the main proteinase of the coronavirus responsible for Sars.

Instead, their work focused on the structure of the main proteinase produced by two other coronaviruses, one that infects humans and one that infects pigs.

They then applied gene analysis techniques to show that the Sars coronavirus produces main proteinase with virtually the same structure.

The research is published on the website of the journal Science.

Seismic Anamoly · Joined: 22 Aug 2002 Posts: 3039

I truly hope they are right, and I believe they are. These guys know what they are talking about. And Playtime is Over where SARS is concerned.

Rolf = DA MAN!!

MP3Hewer · Joined: 09 Nov 2001 Posts: 239

Miiiiiike,

Those Germans are pure genius!

debbie mannas · Joined: 30 Sep 2002 Posts: 1352

they find a treatment FAST.

Its really difficult to keep such tight hygiene/quarantine controls over a population - there are always some careless ones. Scary.

Cheers

bbchris · Posted: Wed May 14, 2003 11:44 pm Post subject: Re: I really hope

I hope so too.

RonOnGuitar · Joined: 08 Jan 2003 Posts: 1916

<<Its really difficult to keep such tight hygiene/quarantine controls over a population - there are always some careless ones.>>

What doesn't help is that people can travel so far so quickly around this world. I hope there is something that can be done by way of a cure. But it's been 20 years or so since AIDs came on the scene and even with a great deal of attention, there's no cure in sight. I very usually "think positive" , but I wonder if there will ever be cures for some things.

Phil Frazier · Joined: 04 Aug 2002 Posts: 823

I still don't understand the BIG SCARE? There are viruses 100 times more deadly and many that take thousands of more lives every year, like TB and Aides? Why the HUGE SPOTLIGHT on this one?

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bbchris · Posted: Thu May 15, 2003 2:45 am Post subject: Re: I really hope

Because they've been waiting for the 'NEXT BIG FLU EPIDEMIC' for awhile. There was one in 1969 and another one around 1908 (I've forgotten which year exactly). Both infected millions of people. The earlier one killed millions, the one in the late Sixties killed thousands of people. If SARS isn't the 'BIG' one then the scientists/doctors fear there will be a BIG one around the corner.

I initially thought the same as you Phil - why the hoohah - that's the main reason why.

MIKE BURN · Posted: Thu May 15, 2003 8:01 am Post subject: Re: Drug hope for Sars

Like Chris I "really hope so" that this is the right way to go.

Prof. Hilgenfeld already remarked:

Quote:
"To turn these into real drugs, including clinical trials and so on, will of course take much longer, probably a couple of years."

Years.................... Tsk..........

Phil Frazier · Joined: 04 Aug 2002 Posts: 823

I saw a documentary on Antbiotics. We now have gotten into a bad situation because most of them don't work anymore because of virus mutation. I like watching documentaries. It saves me from reading. :party

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Netjams · Joined: 27 Dec 2001 Posts: 2308

Banning doesn't work either so you lear to live with them. :warrior

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