Clinical data | |
---|---|
Trade names | Xocova |
Other names | S-217622 |
Routes of administration | By mouth |
ATC code | |
Legal status | |
Legal status |
|
Identifiers | |
| |
CAS Number | |
PubChem CID | |
UNII | |
KEGG | |
Chemical and physical data | |
Formula | C22H17ClF3N9O2 |
Molar mass | 531.88 g·mol−1 |
3D model (JSmol) | |
| |
|
Ensitrelvir, sold under the brand name Xocova is an antiviral medication used as a treatment for COVID-19. [2] [3] [4] [5] It was developed by Shionogi in partnership with Hokkaido University and acts as an orally active 3C-like protease inhibitor. [6] [7] It is taken by mouth. [8] [9] [10]
The most common adverse events include transient decreases in high-density lipoprotein and increases blood triglycerides. [8]
As of 2022 [update] , ensitrelvir had reached Phase III clinical trials. [11] The Japanese government is reportedly considering allowing Shionogi permission to apply for approval for medical use before the final steps of trials are completed, potentially speeding up the release for sale. This conditional early approval system has previously been used in Japan to accelerate the progression to market of other antiviral drugs targeting COVID-19, including remdesivir and molnupiravir. [12] In a study of 428 patients, viral load was reduced, but symptoms were not significantly reduced. [13]
In February 2022, the company sought emergency approval from regulators in Japan. [3] [13]
Shionogi announced they had reached a preliminary agreement to supply 1 million doses to the Japanese government once the drug is approved. The CEO said they could have capacity to make 10 million doses a year. [14]
Ensitrelvir may be effective in treating smell and taste loss from COVID-19 infection. In a 2023 study, the drug was associated with a 39% reduction in these symptoms. [15]
Ensitrelvir was approved for emergency use in Japan in November 2022, [8] [3] [4] before gaining full approval in March 2024. [1] It was approved in Singapore in November 2023. [16]
In April 2023, ensitrelvir was given a "Fast Track" designation from the US Food and Drug Administration. [17]
Ensitrelvir is the international nonproprietary name (INN) . [18]
Ensitrelvir is being studied for its potential use as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) after SARS-CoV-2 exposure. [19] [20] The SCORPIO-PEP trial is a global Phase 3 trial that will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the drug in preventing symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in household contacts of people who tested positive for COVID-19. [20] [21] [22] [23]
An April 2024 pre-clinical study in a mouse model investigating ensitrelvir demonstrated its potential use as a pre-exposure prophylactic (PrEP) against developing COVID-19. When administered 24 hours before viral exposure, a single dose of ensitrelvir significantly increased survival rates, inhibited weight loss, and suppressed viral replication in aged mice. [24]
A retrospective study conducted between November 2022 and July 2023 using a large Japanese health insurance database suggested that ensitrelvir may be effective in reducing hospitalization risk in outpatients at high risk for severe COVID-19. The study found a significantly lower risk of hospitalization and a reduced need for respiratory monitoring and oxygen therapy in the ensitrelvir group compared to the control group. [25]
In May 2024, Shionogi announced that in a phase 3 trial (SCORPIO-HR), ensitrelvir did not achieve its primary endpoint of a statistically significant reduction in the time to sustained resolution of 15 common COVID-19 symptoms compared to placebo. However, the drug did meet key secondary endpoints, including demonstrating a significant reduction in viral RNA levels, a shorter time to achieve the first negative infectious viral titer in nasal swabs compared to placebo, and a shorter resolution time of 6 symptoms. [26]
Protease inhibitors (PIs) are medications that act by interfering with enzymes that cleave proteins. Some of the most well known are antiviral drugs widely used to treat HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and COVID-19. These protease inhibitors prevent viral replication by selectively binding to viral proteases and blocking proteolytic cleavage of protein precursors that are necessary for the production of infectious viral particles.
Ritonavir, sold under the brand name Norvir, is an antiretroviral medication used along with other medications to treat HIV/AIDS. This combination treatment is known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Ritonavir is a protease inhibitor, though it now mainly serves to boost the potency of other protease inhibitors. It may also be used in combination with other medications to treat hepatitis C and COVID-19. It is taken by mouth.
Post-exposure prophylaxis, also known as post-exposure prevention (PEP), is any preventive medical treatment started after exposure to a pathogen in order to prevent the infection from occurring.
Peramivir is an antiviral drug developed by BioCryst Pharmaceuticals for the treatment of influenza. Peramivir is a neuraminidase inhibitor, acting as a transition-state analogue inhibitor of influenza neuraminidase and thereby preventing new viruses from emerging from infected cells. It is approved for intravenous administration.
AGILE is a platform trial for early-phase evaluation of new treatments for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The trial platform is a collaboration led by the University of Liverpool, working with the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the MRC Biostatistics Unit at the University of Cambridge and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Facilities. The AGILE platform is funded by the Medical Research Council, and the Wellcome Trust, with additional funding for specific candidate evaluations from the pharmaceutical industry and Unitaid. The Chief Investigator of the trial is Saye Hock Khoo.
Camostat is a serine protease inhibitor. Serine protease enzymes have a variety of functions in the body, and so camostat has a diverse range of uses. Camostat is approved in Japan for the treatment of chronic pancreatitis and postoperative reflux esophagitis. The oral proteolytic enzyme inhibitor has been on the market since 1985 under the trade name Foipan Tablets. The manufacturer is Ono Pharmaceutical. The drug is used in the treatment of some forms of cancer and is also effective against some viral infections, as well as inhibiting fibrosis in liver or kidney disease or pancreatitis.
Shionogi & Company, Limited is a Japanese pharmaceutical company best known for developing Crestor. Medical supply and brand name also uses katakana (シオノギ).
Simeprevir, sold under the brand name Olysio among others, is a medication used in combination with other medications for the treatment of hepatitis C. It is specifically used for hepatitis C genotype 1 and 4. Medications it is used with include sofosbuvir or ribavirin and peginterferon-alfa. Cure rates are in 80s to 90s percent. It may be used in those who also have HIV/AIDS. It is taken by mouth once daily for typically 12 weeks.
The 3C-like protease (3CLpro) or main protease (Mpro), formally known as C30 endopeptidase or 3-chymotrypsin-like protease, is the main protease found in coronaviruses. It cleaves the coronavirus polyprotein at eleven conserved sites. It is a cysteine protease and a member of the PA clan of proteases. It has a cysteine-histidine catalytic dyad at its active site and cleaves a Gln–(Ser/Ala/Gly) peptide bond.
Favipiravir, sold under the brand name Avigan among others, is an antiviral medication used to treat influenza in Japan. It is also being studied to treat a number of other viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2. Like the experimental antiviral drugs T-1105 and T-1106, it is a pyrazinecarboxamide derivative.
Baloxavir marboxil, sold under the brand name Xofluza, is an antiviral medication for treatment of influenza A and influenza B. It was approved for medical use both in Japan and in the United States in 2018, and is taken as a single dose by mouth. It may reduce the duration of flu symptoms by about a day, but is prone to selection of resistant mutants that render it ineffectual.
Drug repositioning is the repurposing of an approved drug for the treatment of a different disease or medical condition than that for which it was originally developed. This is one line of scientific research which is being pursued to develop safe and effective COVID-19 treatments. Other research directions include the development of a COVID-19 vaccine and convalescent plasma transfusion.
COVID-19 drug development is the research process to develop preventative therapeutic prescription drugs that would alleviate the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). From early 2020 through 2021, several hundred drug companies, biotechnology firms, university research groups, and health organizations were developing therapeutic candidates for COVID-19 disease in various stages of preclinical or clinical research, with 419 potential COVID-19 drugs in clinical trials, as of April 2021.
Molnupiravir, sold under the brand name Lagevrio, is an antiviral medication that inhibits the replication of certain RNA viruses. It is used to treat COVID‑19 in those infected by SARS-CoV-2. It is taken by mouth.
GS-441524 is a nucleoside analogue antiviral drug which was developed by Gilead Sciences. It is the main plasma metabolite of the antiviral prodrug remdesivir, and has a half-life of around 24 hours in human patients. Remdesivir and GS-441524 were both found to be effective in vitro against feline coronavirus strains responsible for feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), a lethal systemic disease affecting domestic cats. Remdesivir was never tested in cats, but GS-441524 has been found to be effective treatment for FIP.
Nirmatrelvir is an antiviral medication developed by Pfizer which acts as an orally active 3C-like protease inhibitor. It is part of a nirmatrelvir/ritonavir combination used to treat COVID-19 and sold under the brand name Paxlovid.
The COVID Moonshot is a collaborative open-science project started in March 2020 with the goal of developing an un-patented oral antiviral drug to treat SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. COVID Moonshot researchers are targeting the proteins needed to form functioning new viral proteins. They are particularly interested in proteases such as 3C-like protease (Mpro), a coronavirus nonstructural protein that mediates the breaking and replication of proteins.
Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir, sold under the brand name Paxlovid, is a co-packaged medication used as a treatment for COVID‑19. It contains the antiviral medications nirmatrelvir and ritonavir and was developed by Pfizer. Nirmatrelvir inhibits SARS-CoV-2 main protease, while ritonavir is a strong CYP3A inhibitor, slowing down nirmatrelvir metabolism and therefore boosting its effect. It is taken by mouth.
Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug that is well established for use in animals and people. The World Health Organization (WHO), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) all advise against using ivermectin in an attempt to treat or prevent COVID-19.
Olgotrelvir (STI-1558) is an experimental antiviral medication being studied as a potential treatment for COVID-19. It is believed to work by inhibiting the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro), a key enzyme that SARS-CoV-2 needs to replicate, and by blocking viral entry.
SCORPIO-PEP is a 28-day study to assess the prevention of COVID-19 infection in those who have been exposed through household contact.