Therefore, malarial drugs are believed to work against corona

The spread of the disease covid-19, which for the most severely affected, severely inflamed lungs, has now tested various inflammatory drugs against the disease.

Last week, the Swedish Medicines Agency approved a standby license for the anti-viral drug Remdesivir developed for Ebola.

Thus, another good candidate seems to be able to be a drug with the active substance chloroquine.

- Given that it is a safe drug we have had for about 70 years and so much speaks to its effectiveness when doing controlled follow-ups and following virus numbers and so on, I think this seems incredibly exciting, says Johan Brun, senior medical adviser at LIF.

What happens in the body during a viral infection is that the virus gets into human cells. Once inside the cell, it translates its genetic code and thus lures the cell to start producing more viruses.

The element zinc can stop this process by blocking the virus and thus stop the propagation process. The problem is that zinc doesn't really want to enter the cell.

- Then you have to create a small channel in the cell wall so that zinc enters. And you think chloroquine is a drug that can open that channel, says Johan Brun.

Zinc is naturally found in the body outside the cell, he explains, and with the help of the drug you can get it into the cell. This is the theoretical idea behind everything that now seems to work in practice according to most studies.

Results from treatment with the malarial drug have been reported from China, Australia and France, among others.

Johan Brun says he would not be surprised if the Swedish Medicines Agency expires and similarly with Remdesivir approves treatment with chloroquine against SARS-CoV-2.

- There are a lot of controlled follow-ups on chloroquine in connection with this ongoing pandemic. All the time, countries are reporting good results, and they are showing exactly what could prove this with zinc, that if you give chloroquine, the virus disappears much faster from the body, says Johan Brun.

The WHO is now calling on countries to share their results and conduct as similar studies as possible, in order to achieve a stronger result.

A new French study published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents has been tested to give patients the form of chloroquine called hydroxychloroquine in combination with antibiotics.

The study results are based on 36 patients, of whom 20 received hydroxychloroquine and 16 were included in the control group who did not receive the drug. Of the 20 treated, six patients also received azithromycin antibiotics. This is to prevent bacterial superinfection.

The results of the study show that the time when the virus is active and infectious is reduced to three to six days, compared to previous studies that have shown a transmission period of 20 or up to 36 days. Even better results were obtained for those patients who also received antibiotics.

"The antibiotic would then either have an effect because when it is so irritating in the lungs, the greater the risk that bacteria will come in, which are also suitable for living there," says Johan Brun.

The researchers in the study are wondering if this antibiotic, which is really just for treating bacteria, could have some other effect as well.

This has never been heard of before and the easiest explanation to take is the first, according to Johan Brun.

Download and read the entire French study here.