How a New Antiviral Therapy May Prevent COVID-19 Transmission

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers and clinicians have worked tirelessly to develop new antiviral therapies to prevent, treat, and minimize the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 viral infection. Despite best efforts, the pandemic has persisted. A new antiviral therapy, presented in an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may potentially minimize infection symptoms and prevent COVID-19 transmission.

In the publication, investigators say, “recently, intranasally administered RNA-based therapeutic interfering particles (TIPs) were reported to suppress SARS-CoV-2 replication, exhibit a high barrier to resistance, and prevent serious disease in hamsters. Since TIPs intrinsically target the tissues with the highest viral replication burden (i.e., respiratory tissues for SARS-CoV-2), we tested the potential of TIP intervention to reduce SARS-CoV-2 shedding."

The press release from the Gladstone Institutes highlights that TIPs are beneficial in multiple aspects. An essential benefit of TIPs is their ability to evolve alongside the virus. Unlike vaccinations and other existing antiviral therapies, which can only target one strain, this intervention can protect all iterations of the disease. 

"Over the last few years, many of the challenges of the pandemic have been related to the emergence of new variants," said Sonali Chaturvedi, PhD, a research investigator at Gladstone and first author of the paper, in the press release. "TIPs would be an ideal treatment because they keep learning as the virus evolves, so they could keep the problem of drug resistance in check."

Researchers in this study used hamsters with COVID-19 and delivered TIPs doses. Following antiviral treatment, the nasal viral levels were measured each day. According to the results of the publication, one TIP dose postexposure leads to undetectable viral shedding five days after infection in 80% of animals. Conversely, on day five, 100% of control animals were still experiencing viral shedding.

Despite not entirely preventing transmission, TIPs treatment reduced the transmission rate and led to milder symptoms in animals contracting the viral infection from TIPs-treated animals.

"This particular laboratory setting is known to generate much more efficient transmission than typically seen in humans, even in household settings because the hamsters not only transmit via aerosols but also through bodily fluids and by climbing over and grooming each other for many hours," says Gladstone Senior Investigator Leor Weinberger, PhD, senior author of the new paper, in the press release. "So, being able to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission in this animal setting is quite promising for being able to reduce human-to-human transmission."

Although the outcomes of this publication are promising, additional research must be done to determine efficacy and side effects in humans. Assuming human trials are successful, this research can significantly impact survival rates during the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics.