Sri Lankan Scientists Look for Existing Drugs to Fight Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19)

COVID 19

First Discovered in December 2019, the Corona virus outbreak has now become a global health emergency with over two thousand deaths due to this virus infection. So far the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections is around 75000 from which majority is from mainland China.

Experts and funding agencies headed by World Health Organization have already set priorities for COVID – 19 research. But so far the scientists have not been able to find an effective solution to this virus outbreak. With scientists from many countries around the world are in a race with time to find a solution for COVID 19, some of the scientists from Sri Lanka too are working on different possible pathways to fight this deadly virus.

One such group of scientists led by Dr Sameera R Samarakoon at the Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biotechnology(IBMBB), University of Colombo has recently discovered a possible combination of FDA approved drugs which can be used as prophylactic treatment for  COVID-19 by using computer based drug designing methods. The group (Dr Sameera R Samarakoon, Dr Kanishka Senathilake   and Prof Kamani Thennekoon) is going to publish their findings within the next few days among the scientific community. 

Dr. Sameera R. Samarakoon
Dr Kanishka Senathilake

“If Chinese medical authorities are happy about this finding they can directly go for clinical trials or even direct applications since predicted drugs have already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, USA. ” Dr. Samarakoon stated.

About Sisira Kumara

Sisira Kumara works as an Editor (News and Web) for The Sri lankan Scientist Magazine and the The Sri Lankan Scientist Media Organization. A graduate in Agricultural Biotechnology Mr. Sisira mainly covers local and international science news including latest findings and events.

View all posts by Sisira Kumara →

One Comment on “Sri Lankan Scientists Look for Existing Drugs to Fight Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19)”

  1. Excellent work. Heartiest Congratulations to Dr. Sameera Samarakoon and his team
    of dedicated scientists. I sincerely wish them all the success. Hope there will be
    more publicity on his findings on the value of native herbal medicines too.
    Accept my profound appreciation of your excellent reporting too Mr. Sisira Kumara. Good luck and take care.

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