Japanese Scientists Eye HIV Drugs To Treat New Coronavirus

Japan will begin clinical trials to test treatments for the deadly new coronavirus that’s engulfed China and spread to over two dozen countries.
But instead of looking at new drugs, they'll look at existing medications already used to treat HIV and other viral diseases.
The new coronavirus is made out of RNA. Other RNA viruses include the ones that cause Ebola, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Many of the drugs that go after HIV and the hepatitis C virus broadly target weaknesses found in all sorts of viruses.
Scientists theorize antiviral drugs like lopinavir should be able to work against the coronavirus.
And there’s already some circumstantial evidence they do.
Some of these drugs have been successfully tested out for SARS and MERS--two other nasty coronaviruses that have emerged in recent years.



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