Chinese Study Finds Covid-19 Drug VV116 May Combat Nipah Virus

Select Language:

Chinese scientists have demonstrated that the oral nucleoside drug VV116, already approved in China and Uzbekistan for COVID-19 treatment, shows promising activity against the Nipah virus, which has recently been identified in India’s West Bengal region and is deadly in over 40% of cases, according to a study published in the journal Emerging Microbes & Infections yesterday.

The research was conducted by teams led by Xiao Gengfu, Zhang Le, and Shan Chao from the Wuhan Institute of Virology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with Hu Tianwen from Vigonvita Life Sciences, the company behind VV116. Laboratory experiments revealed that VV116 and its active metabolites effectively inhibited both the Malaysian strain NiV-M and the Bangladeshi strain NiV-B of the Nipah virus, the Wuhan Institute noted on its website, citing the study.

In tests involving golden hamsters infected with lethal doses, oral administration of VV116 at 400 milligrams per kilogram of body weight increased survival rates to approximately 67% and notably lowered viral loads in vital organs like the lungs, spleen, and brain. The study titled “The Oral Nucleoside Drug VV116 Is a Promising Candidate for Treating Nipah Virus Infections” highlights these findings.

Despite these encouraging results, VV116 remains in the preclinical research phase. To become an approved treatment against the Nipah virus, it must undergo human clinical trials, gain regulatory approval, and achieve market authorization, so practical use is still a way off.

The Nipah virus isn’t new; it has caused multiple outbreaks since 1998 across Malaysia, Singapore, India, and Bangladesh, according to Dong-Yan Jin, a professor at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Biomedical Sciences and senior associate dean of the university’s Graduate School.

Jin explained that the scarcity of effective vaccines and treatments for Nipah has primarily been due to limited research funding and the relatively small number of cases since outbreaks tend to be infrequent and confined. “The virus is extremely deadly, but it doesn’t spread easily, and each outbreak is usually small,” he added.

Shares of Vigonvita Life Sciences, based in Suzhou, closed today at HKD108.90 (roughly USD 15), up 10.9%. Earlier in the day, the stock surged 15%, hitting HKD113.