A new drug cocktail that protects monkeys from the deadly MERS virus could be used on humans one day, U.S. researchers say.
According to an article published Monday in The New York Times, a combination of two well-known antiviral drugs, ribavirin and interferon, eased the serious symptoms of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus in the monkeys.
Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases gave the drugs to half of six rhesus monkeys eight hours after they were infected with the virus. According to the authors of the study published by Nature Medicine, the treatment group showed no breathing difficulties and only minimal X-ray evidence of pneumonia compared to the untreated animals. The treated animals also had lower amounts of virus and less severe tissue damage in the lungs.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the institute’s director, called the study “not a game changer, but an important observation.” This study was started after doctors reviewed therapies that seemed to help during the 2003 epidemic of SARS, which was caused by a similar coronavirus.
Dr. Ziad A. Memish, the deputy health minister of Saudi Arabia, where most of the known MERS cases have occurred, told the New York Times that doctors had already tried the treatment on patients and it did not work well. Although, that might have been because it was started too late, when patients were already severely ill.
According to the World Health Organization, there have been 108 known human cases of MERS, of which 50 have been fatal.
Given the lack of treatment options right now, the study authors conclude that combined ribavirin and interferon-alpha 2b therapy should be considered as an early intervention.