Favipiravir antiviral efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 in a hamster model

Jean-Sélim Driouich, Maxime Cochin, Guillaume Lingas, Grégory Moureau, Franck Touret, Paul-Rémi Petit, Géraldine Piorkowski, Karine Barthélémy, Caroline Laprie, Bruno Coutard, Jérémie Guedj, Xavier Lamballerie, Caroline Solas and Antoine Nougairède ()
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Jean-Sélim Driouich: Unité des Virus Émergents, UVE: Aix Marseille Univ, IRD 190, INSERM 1207
Maxime Cochin: Unité des Virus Émergents, UVE: Aix Marseille Univ, IRD 190, INSERM 1207
Guillaume Lingas: Université de Paris, IAME, INSERM
Grégory Moureau: Unité des Virus Émergents, UVE: Aix Marseille Univ, IRD 190, INSERM 1207
Franck Touret: Unité des Virus Émergents, UVE: Aix Marseille Univ, IRD 190, INSERM 1207
Paul-Rémi Petit: Unité des Virus Émergents, UVE: Aix Marseille Univ, IRD 190, INSERM 1207
Géraldine Piorkowski: Unité des Virus Émergents, UVE: Aix Marseille Univ, IRD 190, INSERM 1207
Karine Barthélémy: Unité des Virus Émergents, UVE: Aix Marseille Univ, IRD 190, INSERM 1207
Caroline Laprie: Laboratoire Vet-Histo
Bruno Coutard: Unité des Virus Émergents, UVE: Aix Marseille Univ, IRD 190, INSERM 1207
Jérémie Guedj: Université de Paris, IAME, INSERM
Xavier Lamballerie: Unité des Virus Émergents, UVE: Aix Marseille Univ, IRD 190, INSERM 1207
Caroline Solas: Unité des Virus Émergents, UVE: Aix Marseille Univ, IRD 190, INSERM 1207
Antoine Nougairède: Unité des Virus Émergents, UVE: Aix Marseille Univ, IRD 190, INSERM 1207

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Despite no or limited pre-clinical evidence, repurposed drugs are massively evaluated in clinical trials to palliate the lack of antiviral molecules against SARS-CoV-2. Here we use a Syrian hamster model to assess the antiviral efficacy of favipiravir, understand its mechanism of action and determine its pharmacokinetics. When treatment is initiated before or simultaneously to infection, favipiravir has a strong dose effect, leading to reduction of infectious titers in lungs and clinical alleviation of the disease. Antiviral effect of favipiravir correlates with incorporation of a large number of mutations into viral genomes and decrease of viral infectivity. Antiviral efficacy is achieved with plasma drug exposure comparable with those previously found during human clinical trials. Notably, the highest dose of favipiravir tested is associated with signs of toxicity in animals. Thereby, pharmacokinetic and tolerance studies are required to determine whether similar effects can be safely achieved in humans.

Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-21992-w

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21992-w

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