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Researchers at the KU Leuven Rega Institute gave SARS-CoV-2 infected hamsters either hydroxychloroquine (an anti-malarial drug) or favipiravir – a broad-spectrum antiviral drug used in some countries to treat influenza. They found that treatment with hydroxychloroquine did not decrease the viral levels in the hamsters and the hamsters remained infectious. However, a high dose of favipiravir, was effective. There were minimal infectious virus particles in the hamsters that received this high dose. Low dose of favipiravir did not have the same effect which is important when considering human clinical trials with this drug.
The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), showed that “the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine does not limit SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus replication in hamsters. A high dose of the anti-flu drug favipiravir, by contrast, has an antiviral effect in the hamsters.”
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