Researchers have claimed that several drugs used for the treatment of Hepatitis C viral infection could be used as a potential treatment for COVID-19.
As per reports, researchers from Germany’s Johannes Guntenburg University(JGU) found that compounds from the four hepatitis C drugs simeprevir, paritaprevir, grazoprevir, and velpatasvir have a high affinity to strongly bind the deadly virus and may therefore be able to prevent infection.
The researchers used the powerful MOGON II supercomputer and simulated how different substances can bind to certain proteins of novel coronavirus and thereby inhibit the penetration of the virus into the human body or its multiplication.
A professor of the JGU Thomas Efferth, who is the lead author of the study said that the computer simulation method is known as molecular docking which is much faster and expensive than lab experiments.
He also claimed that their team is the first to have used molecular docking with novel coronavirus.
According to the researchers, a natural substance from the Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), which has been used in Asia against various other diseases for some time now, might be another strong candidate against SARS-CoV-2.
“Our research results now need to be checked in laboratory experiments and clinical studies,” said Efferth.