Recently, some media reported on the research progress of the traditional Chinese medicine extract stephanotisin against COVID-19. This progress came from an interview with Professor Tong Yigang, the leader in the development of the drug. During the interview, Professor Tong Yigang said: "If we start from In terms of location, it is now close to the top of the mountain. "The host asked: "How long will it take to reach the top of the mountain from the current position?" Professor Tong said: "If everything goes well, it will be possible in one year."
As soon as this news came out, many friends were jubilant, and there was also applause on the Internet. The anti-COVID-19 specific drug will be on the market within a year, and the next Chinese " artemisinin " is coming, and so on. As a person who does not know Dear readers, you will inevitably feel agitated after reading such reports. But as the saying goes, laymen only see the excitement, and experts see the door. From a professional and objective perspective, I still advise everyone to treat stephanotis rationally as an anti-COVID-19 candidate drug.
According to early reports, in the early days of the COVID-19 epidemic, Professor Tong’s scientific research team screened a variety of anti-COVID-19 “candidate drugs”, and stephanotisin was the “leader” among them. According to the patent applied by the research team It has been shown that stephanatine at a concentration of 10 μmol/L can inhibit the replication of coronavirus by more than 15,000 times. This data is of course gratifying, but there is still a long way to go before the antiviral effect based on cell experiments is actually effective after the drug enters the human body.
Stephanotisin is a single chemical component extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine Fangjiaceae plant Stephanotis . Currently, stephanotisin tablets are on the market. Its main function is to clear away heat and cool blood, and is used for radiotherapy and chemotherapy for tumor patients. Caused by leukopenia , studies have shown that the sole application of stephanatine can exert an anti-tumor effect by inhibiting the proliferation of tumor cells and enhancing the body's immunity. It can reduce cell resistance to chemotherapy and improve the efficacy of chemotherapy.
Many friends know the story of artemisinin, and they often compare stephanolin with artemisinin. Compared with the development process of artemisinin, the development of stephanotisin can be said to have many advantages. In the 1960s, Professor Tu Youyou and related scientific research teams, in order to overcome the stubborn disease of malaria , finally discovered artemisinin, a traditional Chinese medicine extract, after a few failures, which showed good efficacy in animal models. The anti-malarial effect was transferred to human trials. After years of research, the effectiveness and safety of the drug were mainly confirmed, and finally a new drug with low resistance rate and high efficiency was provided for the world's anti-malarial. This took a long time How long? It took a total of more than ten years from drug research and development, to confirming the drug structure, to human trials, setting quality standards, and finally converting it into a drug and being approved for marketing. Scientists worked hard day and night to test the drug. Finally achieved a breakthrough initiative, which is really admirable.
For stephanatine, many of the barriers that artemisinin once experienced no longer exist. At present, stephanatine has mature dosage forms for clinical application, so whether it is extraction technology, structure confirmation, or quality control, it is believed to be very advanced. Mature. On this basis, we can develop suitable pharmaceutical dosage forms against the new coronavirus, conduct clinical research, and obtain sufficient effectiveness and safety data. Then we can apply for approval from the drug regulatory agency. But can this process be completed within one year? ? From a rational perspective, it is almost impossible!
Judging from what Professor Tong Yigang said in the interview, the dosage form of this drug is still unclear, and the cooperation with the manufacturer has not been finalized. These things may seem simple, but in fact it is a very tedious and complicated process. And if the dosage form of the drug is determined, , determining the manufacturer, trial production of the drug, preclinical quality research of the drug, animal experimental research of the drug, and phase one to three clinical studies to confirm the effectiveness and safety of the drug on the human body are all unavoidable development processes, and The time required to complete these processes usually takes three to five years or even longer. Even if an anti-COVID-19 drug can obtain rapid approval from the drug regulatory agency’s green channel, the preliminary research work will still take a long time. It is almost impossible to complete so much work in one year. It is conceivable that
is difficult in clinical research. At present, most of the domestic epidemics are in the sporadic stage, and it is difficult to collect enough cases for sufficient clinical research. If you want to carry out phase III clinical research on drugs, you may still need to At present, other domestic anti-coronavirus drugs, such as , Azivudine, , etc., are seeking to be carried out abroad. However, these things are not yet in progress. It is still very difficult to say that this drug can reach the "top of the mountain" within a year.
I have deep respect for the research team that discovered that stephanotis has good anti-COVID-19 effects. I also hope that our motherland’s traditional Chinese medicine can once again become a powerful weapon against viruses in the world, and contribute to China and the world’s fight against the COVID-19 virus. It is a great gift, but the process and road of drug development are tortuous and complicated. Even if it is shown to be effective in cell experiments, there may be certain variables in the process of confirming its effectiveness and safety when used in humans. Therefore, everyone is concerned about the anti-COVID-19 In anticipation of effective drugs, we might as well have hope and lower our expectations. As the saying goes, "Success is gratifying, failure is also gratifying." We should still have the mentality.
