A drug used to treat an infectious disease in cats effectively stopped the replication of the pandemic coronavirus in laboratory tests, according to Chinese researchers.
The drug binds to an important enzyme of Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease Covid-19, according to the study. The enzyme, called Mpro, breaks down big proteins into amino acids and the virus uses these amino acids as building blocks. Without Mpro, the virus cannot make copies of itself.
Anivive filed a pre-investigational new drug request with the FDA for GC376 based on its own research over the past few months, the company said late last month. There were numerous reports of cats being infected in the global pandemic. At the Bronx Zoo in New York, five tigers and three lions developed symptoms including a cough and tested positive for the new coronavirus.