Military

DATE=5/14/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=SARS TREATMENT (L-O)

NUMBER=2-303195

BYLINE=JESSICA BERMAN

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

INTRO: German researchers say an experimental drug developed to treat the common cold might also help in the fight the virus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. But scientists warn a SARS drug might not be available to the general public for a long time. V-O-A's Jessica Berman reports.

TEXT: The potential SARS drug is a relative of a remedy to treat the common cold. Both the cold and SARS are caused by the corona virus. The cold drug is made by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which stopped production of the compound because it did not show promise.

Rolf Higgenfeld of the University of Lubeck led the research team. Dr. Higgenfeld thinks with a little molecular tinkering, the cold drug, known as A-G-7088, might be effective against SARS.

/// HIGGENFELD ACT ///

We do see that the drug does not fit perfectly. And so the compound itself most probably will not be a drug to treat SARS, but it is a very good starting point for designing drugs that fit better to inhibit corona virus.

/// END ACT ///

Dr. Higgenfeld says both viruses use an enzyme, or protease, to reproduce. As with the cold remedy developed by Pfizer, a SARS drug would fight the disease by blocking the protease.

/// HIGGENFELD ACT ///

You may say if you hit this target successfully, you have hit the Achilles' heal of the virus.

/// END ACT ///

Dr. Higgenfeld says researchers may soon have a protease inhibitor against SARS. But he cautions it may take months or even years for regulators to make sure the drug is safe.

AIDS drugs are another example of protease inhibitors. They work by blocking the enzyme that enables the AIDS virus, or H-I-V, to reproduce.

The German researchers reported their work in the journal "Science."

Meanwhile, researchers in New York have announced they may be making progress in developing a drug that prevents the SARS virus from entering cells.

There is no known cure for SARS, a pneumonia-like viral illness that has killed more than five-percent of the nearly 75-hundred people it is known to have infected. (SIGNED)

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