Economic Observer Network reporter Qu Yixian Although there have been announcements to clear the relationship, A-share Qianjintansu concept stocks Among them, some individual stocks have been trading at their daily limit in recent days. According to media reports, “The new drug for the treatment of new crowns discovered by Chinese scientists has been authorized by the national invention patent. The patent specification shows that 10 μM (micromol/L) of fenugreek inhibits the replication of the coronavirus by a factor of 15,393 times.”
There are many places to discuss. First of all, it is worth debating whether fenugreek is a new crown treatment drug?
Regardless of new drugs or old drugs, only a drug approved by the State Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of new crowns can be called a new crown treatment drug/anti-new crown drug.
For example, Pfizer’s new crown oral drug Paxlovid has been approved by the State Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of adult patients with mild to moderate new coronavirus pneumonia with high risk factors for progression to severe disease , was also written into the “New Coronary Virus Pneumonia Diagnosis and Treatment Plan (Trial Ninth Edition)” this year. In the description of the National Health Commission, Paxlovid is an “anti-new coronavirus drug”.
Judging from the current public information, the so-called anti-new coronavirus of fenugreek has only been tested in vitro at the cellular level, and it has shown a certain effect of inhibiting the new coronavirus in the in vitro test stage. .
The scientist in the aforementioned report is Tong Yigang, Dean of the School of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology. Tong Yigang’s team published a paper in May 2020. They screened 2,406 “old drugs” using in vitro cell models and found that three can effectively inhibit the infection of cells by the new coronavirus in vitro. .
Recall that in the more than two years since the outbreak of the new coronary pneumonia, there are not a few drugs that have shown the effect of inhibiting the new coronavirus in the in vitro test stage.
During the Wuhan epidemic in early 2020, Chinese patent medicine Shuanghuanglian oral liquid, abidol, darunavir, these drugs were all produced by authoritative laboratories and teams in the industry In vitro tests have been carried out, all of which have shown the effect of inhibiting the new coronavirus.
But there have been hundreds of such cases in the past two years, either stopped in the in vitro test stage, or entered the clinical research stage but were proved ineffective, and only a few were successful. .
For a drug to be marketed or to apply for a new indication, the routine steps include basic research, preclinical research, pharmacology, toxicology and efficacy testing in animals, production Experimental and clinical trials. The final stage of clinical trials is usually one, two, or three phases, which need to verify efficacy and safety in vivo, often over several years.
Tong Yigang said that the anti-coronavirus effect is mainly by interfering with the cellular stress response and reversing most of the dysregulated genes and pathways in infected cells.
The patent specification shows that the three screened anti-new coronavirus effective compounds, fenugreek, siramectin, and mefloquine hydrochloride, were tested. 10 μM of fenugreek Tensin, siramectin and mefloquine hydrochloride can inhibit virus replication by 15393 times, 5053 times and 31 times respectively after 72 hours of cell infection, and the experimental results can be repeated.
Scientifically, “15393 times” can indicate that in vitro tests, the effect of fenugreek in inhibiting the new coronavirus is better than that of siramectin and mefloquine hydrochloride.
Spirulina is a double-benzyl isoquinoline alkaloid isolated and extracted from the plants of the tetragoniaceae, and it is also an “old medicine”. The approved indication is leukopenia.
The database of the State Food and Drug Administration shows that 4 companies have obtained the listing approval for Qianjintiansu tablets, namely Shenyang Guancheng Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Yunnan Baiyao Group Wenshan Qihua Co., Ltd., Yunnan Baiyao Group Dali Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Yunnan Bio Valley Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Functions and indications are: clearing heat and cooling blood; for tumor patients with leukopenia caused by radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
From in vitro studies, fenugreek is also a candidate drug for the new crown. However, in vitro research is not the same as in vivo research. Many drugs that have good effects in in vitro research will not be absorbed or will be metabolized quickly once they reach the human body.
A sub-journal of “Nature” once disclosed a data: the average duration of clinical trials of anti-infective drugs is 7.1 years, and the success rate is 19.1%.
For fenugreek, which has not yet entered the clinical trial stage, to become a new crown treatment drug, there are still many “gates” to cross.