A drug developed and produced in Poland may become the real help to treat COVID-19, Biorxiv reported. The drug is useful in the treatment of viral pneumonia caused by coronavirus infections, the Polish health authorities confirmed.
The Polish drug, Arachin by Adamed Pharma, will only be available in hospitals. Since March 13, the Polish council recommends that drug for use on coronavirus patients nationwide.
The new drug that could fight the coronavirus was invented by a Polish chemist from the Wrocław University of Technology, Prof. Maciej Drag. His research team together with their counterparts at Lubeck University in Germany have made a breakthrough discovery in COVID-19 treatment.
According to the scientists, the drug contains chloroquine (chloroquini phosphas), originally prescribed for treating malaria and rheumatic fever, which testing has shown is also useful for treating the coronavirus family of viruses. The researchers have found an enzyme inhibitor which destroys the virus’ proteins and hence destroys it.
The Polish health authorities said they made their decision to approve the drug based on clinical evidence. Arachin will not be available in pharmacies in order to ensure hospitals have adequate supplies.
The Polish health authorities are proud of Arachin, its enzyme is unique and not found in people, meaning that the potential cure would not negatively affect the patient.
“If we treat this enzyme as a lock, then we have acquired a key to it”, said the scientist. He added that the enzyme was known, but there were millions of combinations of “keys”. And we found one key that matches this enzyme,” says Prof. Maciej Drag.
