Drug studies determined by drug repositioning against COVID-19 within the TUBITAK COVID-19 Turkey Platform and led by Serdar Durdağı continues at full speed.
As a part of TÜBİTAK COVID-19 Turkey Platform, The COVID-19 Phase-2 clinical studies of Montelukast conducted by the head of Bahçeşehir University (BAU) Faculty of Medicine, Basic Medical Sciences and the Biophysics Department Prof. Dr. Serdar Durdağı, continues.
In the project carried out jointly by BAU and Istanbul Medipol University, the effectiveness of the drug Montelukast, which is used in the treatment of asthma and allergies, against COVID-19 is being investigated on volunteer patients in 5 different centers.
“BLOCKS THE VIRUS TO ENTER THE CELL AND REPRODUCE”
It was emphasized that the drug called "Montelukast” used in the treatment of asthma and allergy in the project, also has a strong effect in the treatment of COVID-19 in preclinical tests, and the drug delays the effect of the virus on healthy cells for up to 20 hours. After the vaccine studies, the molecule that blocks the virüs to enter the cell and reproduce also gives hope for drug studies too. Phase-2 clinic studies that started last month and planned to conduct on 380 volunteer patients, continue in 5 different headquarters in Istanbul, Ankara, and Samsun. It is expected that the number of headquarters where clinical studies are carried out will be increased to 9 in the upcoming days.
Explaining that among the library of 15 thousand molecules created from approved drugs used in the treatment of different diseases and drugs used in clinical phase stages, biochemical tests were performed on 25 molecules selected with virtual scanning algorithms developed in BAU Computational Biology and Molecular Simulations Laboratory. Dr. Serdar Durdağı said that in the virus neutralization tests performed at TÜBİTAK MAM, Montelukast was effective according to the preclinical test results. Prof. Dr. Serdar Durdağı explained that the biochemical tests were performed on 25 molecules, which were selected by virtual scanning algorithms created in BAU Computational Biology and Molecular Dynamics Laboratories chose among 15 thousand molecules created from certified drugs that are used in the treatment of different diseases and clinic phase stages. He said that in the virus neutralization tests performed at TÜBİTAK MAM, Montelukast was effective as to preclinical test results. Durdağı emphasized that the previous simulations showed that the drug was effective against the UK and South African variants and that Montelukast has the potential to be effective against the delta variant in the new simulations.
