The Impact of Camostat Mesilate on COVID-19 Infection
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
2022-05-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
SARS-CoV-2, one of a family of human coronaviruses, was initially identified in December 2019
in Wuhan city. This new coronavirus causes a disease presentation which has now been named
COVID-19. The virus has subsequently spread throughout the world and was declared a pandemic
by the World Health Organisation on 11th March 2020. As of 18 March 2020, there are 198,193
number of confirmed cases with an estimated case-fatality of 3%. There is no approved therapy
for COVID-19 and the current standard of care is supportive treatment.
SARS-CoV-2 exploits the cell entry receptor protein angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE-2)
to access and infect human cells. The interaction between ACE2 and the spike protein is not
in the active site. This process requires the serine protease TMPRSS2. Camostat Mesilate is a
potent serine protease inhibitor. Utilizing research on severe acute respiratory syndrome
coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and the closely related SARS-CoV-2 cell entry mechanism, it has been
demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 cellular entry can be blocked by camostat mesilate. In mice,
camostat mesilate dosed at concentrations similar to the clinically achievable concentration
in humans reduced mortality following SARS-CoV infection from 100% to 30-35%.