6 4 / 2021 // LEOPOLDINA / NEWS

Leopoldina members Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff and Ralf Bartenschlager on SARS-CoV-2 treatments

One of the objectives of research into drugs for viruses like SARS-CoV-2 is to develop medication that can be easily administered .

Illustration : Adobe Stock | cassis

The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina published its ad hoc statement on “ Antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2 ” in November . Speakers of the working group Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff ML and Ralf Bartenschlager ML explain why the development of these drugs is so important , what they expect from policymakers and how industry and academia need to work together .

The development of vaccines has always been at the heart of the pandemic response . Why do we also need antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2 ? Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff : Vaccination may be the first choice , but it is not enough to beat the pandemic alone . With the vaccine unable to provide every individual with the necessary protection , we need to complement it with medical treatments . Some cohorts , such as dialysis or cancer patients , tend to have a very weak immune response , and there will always be breakthrough infections anyway . We need antiviral drugs for any such cases where people are at risk of becoming seriously ill .

What are the requirements of such antiviral drugs ? Ralf Bartenschlager : The drugs need to be readily available with minimal side effects and the administration route should be oral or inhalation . The medication also needs to have a high enough barrier to resistance to prevent the virus becoming resistant to the drug whilst the patient is being treated and to prevent resistant viruses from being transmitted . If these requirements are not fulfilled , there is no point in using the drug . Patients are not infected with SARS-CoV-2 for very long , which means that the treatment time is also relatively short compared to other , chronic viral illnesses that can take months or even years to treat .

Can you give us a progress report on research and development work on antiviral drugs that are specifically effective against SARS-CoV-2 ? Rübsamen-Schaeff : US pharmaceutical company MSD recently announced that clinical trials have shown that its drug molnupiravir reduces the risk of serious illness or death caused by SARS- CoV-2 by 50 %. The company is now planning to seek emergency use authorisation . Pfizer has also developed a drug that is 80 to 90 % effective at preventing severe illness or death , with emergency use authorisation also expecting to be sought . Unfortunately , we are not keeping up here in Germany . What we need is significantly more investment in drug development .

We ’ re fighting SARS-CoV-2 now , but we can expect other pandemics to break out in the future . This is where broadspectrum antiviral drugs come in .