Scientists have found new vulnerability in coronavirus. And a drug that cat affect it

Computer simulations showed how the anti-inflammatory drug called ebselen can reduce the activity of one of the vulnerabilities in coronavirus. This drug may become the basis of effective coronavirus treatment, scientists believe.

“The main protease is one of the main proteins of coronavirus. It may be affected by the already existed drugs. We examined all the proteins, which take part in the activity of the virus, their vulnerabilities and reactios on various drugs”, said one of the researchers.

All previous researches showed that drug with the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of ebselencan affect this protein. The drug was created to fight strokes, hearing loss or tinnitus, and bipolar personality disorder.

Scientists created detailed computer models of the protease and the drug to understand how exactly it can help in virus neutralization. It turned out that ebselen can suppress protein activity in two ways. Scientists have found one of them for the first time.