Nelfinavir, an anti-HIV drug, and amodiaquine, an antimalarial drug, exhibited the strongest synergy of all the possible combinations.
Interestingly, one of these drugs works by shielding the host cells, while the other targets the virus itself. This is a combined strategy that the researchers say has worked well against other viral infections.
The team checked that this drug combination was effective against each of seven available strains of SARS-CoV-2.
The researchers have now published their results in the journal Viruses.
“This orally available drug combination — nelfinavir-amodiaquine — inhibits the virus infection in cell cultures,” says senior study author Denis Kainov, an associate professor in the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine. “It should be tested further in preclinical studies and clinical trials now.”
