A hepatitis C drug may also be used to treat patients with COVID-19, a new study suggests.

After evaluating over 6,000 drugs to see if they can block protease — which is an important protein involved in the life cycle of the coronavirus — researchers from the University of Washington School of Medicine found the hepatitis C drug to be “the most potent.” These “most potent” options have the greatest possibility of advancing “rapidly to clinical trials without extensive multi-year preclinical development efforts,” the researchers noted.

In their drug repurposing screen — an alternative way to rapidly identify effective therapeutics to treat an infectious disease, the researchers singled out protease inhibitors boceprevir and narlaprevir, which are antiviral drugs used to treat hepatitis C. This strategy of repositioning existing approved drugs that may inhibit the replication of the SARS coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) — the virus that causes the disease COVID-19 — would be of great utility in addressing the extensive impact of the ongoing pandemic. Inhibiting virus replication essentially helps in reducing the rate and severity of infection.

According the researchers, these results of their study show that “some existing approved drugs can inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Mpro and that screen saturation of all approved drugs is both feasible and warranted.”

Boceprivir was approved for hepatitis treatment in the United States and Europe in 2011. However, it is was discontinued in the U.S. in 2014 because of its many side effects and low cure rate. It is still available in Europe, although it is no longer a part of the recommended treatment regimen in Europe. It is also known to interact with HIV medications, so it cannot be used with other drugs. Of note, another study has also looked into the potential of boceprevir in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 viral replication by targeting the virus’ main protease.

Narlaprevir is used in combination with other antiviral drugs, such as ritonavir, pegylated interferon alfa and ribavirin, in the treatment of hepatitis C. In Russia, for example, narlaprevir received regulatory approval in 2016 after promising results in efficacy studies, marking a major milestone in the country’s fight against hepatitis C.

If clinical trials confirm the effects of these drugs against the novel coronavirus, they would likely be given to patients as part of a combination therapy. With this multi-prong approach to treatment, patients would have the benefit of receiving more than one line of attack against the virus.

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