Obeldesivir (GS-5245), a new investigational small molecule oral antiviral, is a valuable addition to the ongoing work to get ready for future pandemics.
Obeldesivir (GS-5245), a new investigational small molecule oral antiviral, is a valuable addition to the ongoing work to get ready for future pandemics.
Several researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health are co-authors of a new study published online May 22 by the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The study shares findings from an academic-cThe Gillings School’s Sheahan and Baric Labs have formed a corporate partnership with biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. This partnership has previously conducted research on remdesivir, which is now known as Veklury®. In 2020, remdesivir was authorized for emergency use during the COVID-19 pandemic and later fully approved. The drug works by preventing the SARS-CoV-2 virus from multiplying, which helps to reduce recovery time and lower disease progression and mortality. However, patients need to receive remdesivir through intravenous administration in a health care setting. Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have been diligently working on this.Research is being done on developing an oral antiviral drug based on the parent nucleoside of remdesivir, with the potential to halt the virus’ replication. According to Timothy Sheahan, a virology expert, oral bioavailability would allow patients to take the medication by mouth at home, eliminating the need to visit a healthcare facility for treatment. This would address a potential limitation of remdesivir, which is administered intravenously. In a recent study, oral obeldesivir was found to decrease the severity of disease in mice infected with one of several strains.l multiple types of coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV-2 (which leads to COVID-19), SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV. Scientists noticed a decrease in viral replication, weight loss, lung injury, and loss of lung function that depended on the dosage. Furthermore, when obeldesivir was combined with the antiviral nirmatrelvir (a key component of Paxlovid), it resulted in even better outcomes in mice infected with COVID-19. These findings suggest that obeldesivir has the potential to be an effective drug against various coronaviruses. Gilead Sciences recently finished a Phase 3 clinical trial of the treatment in over 2,000 individuals who were t
Tested positive for COVID-19 but did not have risk factors for developing more severe disease and were not hospitalized.
“While obeldesivir did not meet its primary clinical endpoint of reducing time to symptom alleviation in a standard risk population in the Phase 3 OAKTREE trial, it is a promising drug and no safety concerns were identified,” Sheahan says. “I think the issue is that currently, most people have stronger immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 and the disease severity has greatly diminished since the pandemic. Early on, many people were ending up in the hospital and dying, which made the differences between placebo a.The differences in outcomes between the treated and untreated groups were clear and easily measurable. Researchers were not focused on preventing hospitalization and death with obeldesivir, but rather on how much it shortened the time for symptoms to resolve in people who are not at high risk for severe COVID-19. The subtler differences in the background of milder disease are more challenging to observe.”
In the end, the clinical trial evaluated the safety profile of obeldesivir for use in a diverse population. Similar to remdesivir, obeldesivir could continue to be tested in humans for its effectiveness and, if appropriate, quickly deployed against new coronaviruses that may emerge.The research team is optimistic about the potential use of this broad-spectrum antiviral medication against other RNA viruses.
