Recently, the top journal of the European Organization for molecular biology (EMBO) "EMBO molecular medicine" published an article, revealing the latest preclinical research of a drug for the treatment of leukemia "orebatinib", and the results show that it has the potential to treat covid-19.
The title of this study is "olverembatinib inhibits sars-cov-2-omicron variant mediated cytokine release in human peripheral blood monocytes". The study found that this variety can effectively inhibit the production of cytokine storm in human peripheral blood monocytes induced by covid-19 virus variant Omicron, It is suggested that orebatinib has the potential to treat novel coronavirus pneumonia, especially in moderate and severe patients.
Orebatinib is a leukemia drug developed by Yasheng Pharmaceutical (06855. HK), a Chinese innovative pharmaceutical enterprise. Previously, this variety has been approved to be listed in China for the treatment of adult patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) chronic phase (CP) or accelerated phase (AP) with any tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) resistance and T315I mutation. It is also the first and only third-generation bcr-abl tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved to be listed in China.
The study was initiated by Dr. Taran gujral, a systems biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at the University of Washington.
Although most patients with covid-19 have only mild to moderate symptoms, some patients will still have excessive inflammation caused by the production of a large number of cytokines, namely "cytokine storm", which will eventually lead to alveolar injury and respiratory failure.
The conclusion of the above study indicates that the n-segment domain (i.e. "NTD fragment") of sars-cov-2 and its variants can trigger the excessive inflammatory response mediated by cytokine release by activating a variety of downstream kinases (Jak1, EphA7, irak1, mapk12 and map3k8, etc.). Orebatinib can inhibit the release of cytokines in PBMCs induced by NTD by blocking most of the kinases, so as to alleviate inflammation. This also means that orebatinib may provide new treatment options for patients with moderate and severe covid-19.
However, whether orebatinib can really become a drug for the treatment of covid-19 remains to be verified by further clinical trials.
At present, Yang Dajun, chairman and CEO of Yasheng pharmaceutical, said in an interview with the first financial reporter that in view of the above research findings, the company plans to promote human clinical research as soon as possible, and is also contacting the drug regulatory departments in China and the United States.
Yang Dajun said that since orebatinib is a drug that has been listed and its safety has been verified, clinical researchers can directly launch an exploratory clinical trial of orebatinib in the treatment of covid-19 to preliminarily verify whether it is effective in controlling covid-19 inflammation or treating severe covid-19. "After the preliminary effect verification, we will promote clinical trials for the purpose of registration and listing, which may be promoted in China, the United States and other countries."
Yang Dajun said that at present, most of the approved drugs for covid-19 in the world are used for antiviral treatment. There are still few drugs for controlling inflammatory response, only two in number, and there are still certain safety risks.
\u3000\u3000 "Under the covid-19 pandemic, there is an important topic to be studied, that is, how to deal with the sequelae after covid-19 infection. Many sequelae are related to the cytokine storm after covid-19 infection. In the long run, the treatment of covid-19 should not only inhibit virus replication, but also prevent or reduce the sequelae. At present, it is urgent to develop new therapeutic drugs to deal with covid-19 lung cancer Complications caused by inflammation. " Yang Dajun told the first financial reporter.
