Scientists have found that nafamostat, at very low concentrations, suppresses a protein that that the novel coronavirus uses to enter human lung cells.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has announced that it has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to initiate a clinical trial with Nafamostat Mesilate in COVID-19 patients. Nafamostat is approved in Japan for the improvement of acute symptoms of pancreatitis and treatment of Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC).

A group of scientists from the University of Tokyo, Japan and Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Germany have recently demonstrated that Nafamostat, at very low concentrations, suppresses a protein (TMPRSS2) that the COVID-19 virus uses to enter human lung cells.

A group of scientists from the University of Tokyo in Japan and Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Germany, however, have found that nafamostat, at very low concentrations, suppresses a protein that that the novel coronavirus uses to enter human lung cells.

Another group from Institut Pasteur, South Korea, also published data comparing antiviral efficacy of 24 drugs and Nafamostat, against SARS-CoV-2 in in-vitro studies in human lung epithelial-derived cells. In this research, Nafamostat was found to be the most potent drug and was able to inhibit virus entry at very low concentrations, consistent with findings from Japan and German labs3.

"Sun Pharma is constantly evaluating potential targets that can be explored for treating Covid-19 patients," said Managing Director Dilip Shanghvi. Sun Pharma is the world's fourth largest specialty generic pharmaceutical company and India's top pharmaceutical company.

Source: economictimes, livemint.com