Two drugs already in use could be effective in fighting SARS, National Health Research Institutes researchers said yesterday.
The anti-psychotic drug Promazine and Niclosamide, a drug which is used in the treatment of worm infections, may be able to fight the SARS virus, according to the government-run institute.
"After different experiments, we have proved that these two kinds of drugs have a significant effect in inhibiting the replication of SARS-coronavirus," the institute said in a statement.
The drugs would work best if used during the initial stage of a SARS infection, it said.
The institute said it had filed a patent application on May 28 with the US Patent and Trademark Office for the discovery and is now trying to develop a new anti-SARS medicine based on the finding.
Researchers had produced more than 10 new compounds that were effective in controlling SARS-coronavirus based on Promazine's formula, the institute said.
But further experiments were required to test their clinical effects and safety on humans, it said.
SARS killed 774 people out of 8,098 cases worldwide, according to the latest toll of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO on Sept. 26 revised Taiwan's death toll from the epidemic down from 180 to 37 after ruling that 143 of the fatalities had not in fact died from the disease.
A team of researchers, led by Marie Lin (
According to their findings, the severity of SARS was shown to be significantly associated with the HLA-B46 gene found in people across the region.
In an effort to prevent a resurgence of the deadly epidemic this winter, the government will reopen a "Fever Hotline" on Nov. 15 to give consultations to people in doubt about their health.
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