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Lipase-Mediated Biocatalysis as a Greener and Sustainable Choice for Pharmaceutical Processes
Published in Peter Grunwald, Pharmaceutical Biocatalysis, 2020
Monika Sharma, Tanya Bajaj, Rohit Sharma
Ribavirin is an effective antiviral drug often used in combination with alpha-2β interferon to eradicate hepatitis C virus. The therapy has various side effects linked to its administration, such as hemolysis-induced anemia due to overdoses and little or no response with a slightly lesser dose. To cater to some of these disadvantages, it was suggested that ribavirin must be given in the form of a pro-drug which can be made possible by modifying its structure and thus the synthesis of alanine ester of ribavirin was proposed. The synthetic reaction of converting ribavirin to its alanine ester involves the formation of an important intermediate, carbamic acid, which is mediated by the CAL-B enzyme immobilized on acrylic resin. The immobilized catalyst (Fig. 1.11) formed a free-flowing suspension in the tetrahydrofuran (THF) used as the solvent and a one-pot acetylation method followed without the isolation of intermediates (Tamarez et al., 2003).
Biological Terrorist Agents
Published in Robert A. Burke, Counter-Terrorism for Emergency Responders, 2017
Treatment is limited to supportive care. Because Nipah virus encephalitis can be transmitted person to person, standard infection control practices and proper barrier nursing techniques are important in preventing the hospital-acquired infections (nosocomial transmission). The drug ribavirin has been shown to be effective against the viruses in vitro, but human investigations to date have been inconclusive and the clinical usefulness of ribavirin remains uncertain. Passive immunization using a human monoclonal antibody targeting the Nipah G glycoprotein has been evaluated in the postexposure therapy in the ferret model and found to be of benefit.
Nanomedicines for the Treatment of Respiratory Diseases
Published in Sarwar Beg, Mahfoozur Rahman, Md. Abul Barkat, Farhan J. Ahmad, Nanomedicine for the Treatment of Disease, 2019
Brahmeshwar Mishra, Sundeep Chaurasia
To date, the most effective treatment for respiratory diseases resulting in airway inflammation has been oral or injectable corticosteroids administered generally to treat bronchial asthma and COPD. Many systemic side effects can occur as a result of the chronic use of corticosteroids. However, such advances have been made in this area, in that corticosteroids can be given by inhalation (Wright, 2006). This route of delivery has minimized systemic absorption of the drugs and many complications previously observed with injectable and oral dosages form (Todd et al., 2002). Although inhalation delivery of the drug has addressed these factors, the persistent challenge is that the lung is functionally and anatomically heterogeneous. Thus the dose and drug distribution in the lungs play an important role in reproducible delivery and thus successful therapy (Gonda et al., 1998). Viral respiratory infections such as influenza have no effective and safe antiviral compound and are not susceptible to antibiotic treatment. However, antibiotics are generally prescribed for secondary infections. Ribavirin, an antiviral compound with activity against a number of DNA and RNA viruses, has been used to treat viral respiratory infections such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection (Smith et al., 1980). At present oral ribavirin is used in Mexico against influenza, and the aerosol dosage form has been used to treat RSV-related diseases in children. The challenges with ribavirin are the associated adverse side effects, such as hemolytic anemia, which have been reported to be dose-dependent. An additional concern is that this compound has been identified as a teratogen in some animal species (Bani-Sadr et al., 2005). Bacterial respiratory infections, on the other hand, are treated with oral or injectable antibiotics. Although drugs against respiratory infections such as S. pneumoniae and M. tuberculosis are effective, these drugs generally have to be administered as combination therapy in high doses for long durations of treatment to maintain therapeutic levels, and they also have poor bioavailability (Butler et al., 1996; du Toit et al., 2006). Because of the high doses administered and the associated side effects, patient non-compliance as mentioned above has led to the inefficacy of the treatment regimen. The incorrect dosing of chemotherapy has also been reported to be linked to the emergence of multi-drug resistant strains (Lipsitch and Samore, 2002), and these challenges have posed a need to develop novel ways of delivering the therapeutic compounds (Prabakaran et al., 2004).
Modelling health impacts of hepatitis – model selection and treatment plans
Published in Mathematical and Computer Modelling of Dynamical Systems, 2022
There are various treatments for different hepatitis infections. First treatments of hepatitis C used interferon-, which activates the immune system and leads to a higher amount of T cells [5,18]. Starting in 1998 [18], a modified interferon-, called pegylated interferon- was combined with ribavirin [5]. Additional to the effect on the immune system, ribavirin reduced the reproduction of the virus [18]. An important and significant improvement in the therapy of chronic hepatitis C infection was the development of direct acting antivirals (DAA). Instead of boosting the immune reaction, the DAA decreases the virus and its reproduction [18]. The amount of DAA and the frequency of doses depends on the specific type of hepatitis C virus. Therefore, every single patient needs an individual therapy. Additionally, the resistance of certain virus types on DAA increases [18].
Activity analysis of new N-heterocyclic carbenes and silver N-heterocyclic carbene molecules against novel coronavirus by UV-vis, fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular docking
Published in Journal of Coordination Chemistry, 2021
Elvan Üstün, Namık Özdemir, Neslihan Şahin
Human coronavirus was first identified in the mid-1960s [1]. Coronavirus belongs to the Coronaviridae family, which is an enveloped single stranded-positive sense RNA virus [2]. Coronaviridae family is divided into four subgroups as alpha, beta, gamma, and theta [3]. Alpha and beta Coronaviridae usually infect mammals and humans, while gamma and theta usually infect birds [4]. Novel coronavirus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2: SARS CoV-2) is a beta virus [5]. Novel coronavirus first appeared in China and has spread rapidly all over the world and transmits through the human body by the nose, mouth, and eyes [6]. There have been 253,163,330 confirmed cases of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), including 5,098,174 deaths, reported by World Health Organization (WHO) (November 15, 2021) [7]. The researchers concentrated on vaccine studies for fighting against the novel coronavirus. On the other hand, patients have been treated by previously used molecules such as hydroxychloroquine, ribavirin, and favipiravir, whose antiviral activities were known for some diseases [8]. Hydroxychloroquine is an FDA-approved drug used for malaria [9]. Studies confirmed that hydroxychloroquine inhibits the SARS CoV-2 virus by changing the pH of the cell membrane surface. In addition, hydroxychloroquine also inhibits the glycosylation of the viral proteins and nucleic acid replication [10]. Ribavirin is a guanosine analogue antiviral agent against DNA and RNA viruses, which was accepted for medical applications in 1986. It is one of the drugs used in the treatment of hepatitis C. Ribavirin is also used in Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and hantavirus infections [11]. Favipiravir is a well-known anti-viral molecule and inhibits some DNA and RNA viruses [12].
Investigation of the embryo-toxicity of the antiviral drug “Ribavirin” in Wistar rats during different gestation periods
Published in Egyptian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 2023
Mohamed Magdy, Abd El Wahab El Ghareeb, Taha M. A. Eldebss, Heba Ali Abd El Rahman
Lastly, we showed that ribavirin is an embryotoxic agent in pregnant rat fetuses during the crucial phases of pregnancy. Rat fetuses had growth retardation and histopathological abnormalities; ribavirin is expected to primarily activate reactive oxygen species, raise the percentage of DNA fragments, and cause pathological effects on the pregnant rat placenta and fetal liver.