Researchers have created a pharmaceutical cocktail to fight enteroviruses

Enteroviruses are a group of viruses that cause a wide variety of diseases, from the common cold to meningitis, polio, type 1 diabetes and more. Researchers have described more than 100 different types, and they infect millions of people each year.

According to Erlend Ravlo, a researcher at the Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), enteroviruses are a major global health problem.

It may therefore seem a little strange that no approved general treatment or vaccine against this group of viruses has yet been developed.

One explanation may be that infected patients usually recover well without medication. However, sometimes the situation can get seriously worse, especially in children, so it is important to find a treatment that works against multiple enteroviruses.

The drug cocktail stops replication

Researchers are looking for a solution to this problem. Viruses replicate by making copies of themselves in the cells they infect, making them a good target for intervention.

The scientists conducting this study have discovered a combination of drugs that appears to prevent enteroviruses from replicating

The drug combination has not yet been tested on humans, but tests have been done in the lab on human cells and mini-organ cultures – and the results were positive.

Dozens of researchers in Norway and other European countries participated in the work on enteroviruses. The results of the study have been published in two scientific papers.

One combination consists of three drugs already known to medical professionals: pleconaril, AG7404 and mindesivir. This combination of drugs can be taken orally.

These drugs have already been individually tested in humans, and safe doses of the combination have been shown to be effective against enteroviruses in cells and minidrug cultures.

In addition, the combination does not alter glucose and insulin levels in laboratory tests on pancreatic cells.

This is good news for people who have diabetes or fear developing it.

Researchers also tested the combination on mini organs that mimic the heart, and it turned out not to alter heart rate, which of course is also important.

This cocktail of drugs is indeed promising.

Several combinations have been tested

Finding the best combination of medications took quite some time. NTNU researchers tried other possible treatments, testing several different mixtures.

To find an effective treatment, they analyzed the toxicity and efficacy of 12 known substances that can work against a wide range of enteroviruses. The scientists tested them both individually and in combination, as well as on different viruses in cell cultures.

A promising combination is pleconaril, rupintrivir and remdesivir, which is effective against several viruses in lung cells and intestinal organoids. However, because rupintrivir and remdesivir cannot be taken as a single combination pill, the researchers replaced these drugs with AG740 4 and mindesivir. The new combination is still effective, but is also more practical because it can be taken as a single pill.

These studies show great potential for finding broad-spectrum treatments against enteroviruses.

The researchers emphasized that more studies are needed before it can be guaranteed that these drug combinations are effective for patients as well. These studies should include several different enteroviruses, both in the laboratory and in human clinical trials.