<\/p>\n An old ebola drug being tested as a treatment for COVID-19 is capable of tricking the virus responsible for the deadly respiratory disease, a new University of Alberta study suggests.\u00a0<\/p>\n The drug remdesivir is capable of halting the coronavirus from replicating, according to new research published Monday<\/a> in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.<\/em><\/p>\n The study, led by Matthias G\u00f6tte, chair of medical microbiology and immunology at U of A, demonstrates how the antiviral drug disrupts the virus by attacking enzymes known as polymerases.<\/p>\n When viruses infect our body, they hijack our cells to replicate themselves, making more viruses that can go on to infect other cells or people,\u00a0G\u00f6tte\u00a0said in a news release Monday.<\/p>\n Remdesivir takes advantage of the coronavirus’\u00a0natural life cycle, infiltrating the virus’\u00a0genome and effectively shutting\u00a0down its\u00a0ability to make copies of itself, he\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Replication of the virus relies on the\u00a0polymerases, enzymes which synthesize the virus’ genome by assembling\u00a0sequences of RNA molecules. Remdesivir inhibits this process by\u00a0masquerading as a part of the virus itself and damaging it from the inside, G\u00f6tte\u00a0said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The drug has proven a “very potent inhibitor,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “If you target the polymerase, the virus cannot spread, so it’s a very logical target for treatment,” G\u00f6tte said.<\/p>\n “These coronavirus polymerases are sloppy and they get fooled, so the inhibitor gets incorporated many times and the virus can no longer replicate.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The drug remdesivir has already been used intravenously to treat thousands of COVID-19 patients on a compassionate basis during the escalating pandemic. Clinical trial studies involving hundreds of patients around the globe began in early March.<\/p>\n And while the study supports the need for clinical study, results obtained in the lab cannot predict how the drug will work on people,\u00a0G\u00f6tte said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ongoing clinical trials will be the true test, G\u00f6tte said. Those results can be expected as early as April or May.<\/p>\n American biotechnology company Gilead Sciences developed the drug remdesivir as a response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, where it was tested in a clinical trial.<\/p>\n Results showed the drug was not particularly effective\u00a0against Ebola, but testing on monkeys infected with MERS \u2014 the Middle East respiratory syndrome\u00a0\u2014 suggested the drug could be effective against coronaviruses.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.5492764.1586704776!\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/16x9_780\/medical-swab.jpg\")
<\/img><\/p>\n<\/div>‘A\u00a0very potent inhibitor’<\/h2>\n