Unipd study investigates the development of treatments against SARS-CoV-2

24.10.2023

The RAndomized Clinical Trial Of NAfamostat (RACONA) study, conducted by a University of Padua research team coordinated by Gian Paolo Rossi and Teresa Maria Seccia of the Department of Medicine of the University of Padua, aims to investigate the development of effective treatments against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, the results of the RACONA study demonstrate the efficacy and safety of the protease inhibitor nafamostat, in the therapeutic treatment against Sars-CoV-2, a disease that still affects a number of fragile people that may require hospitalization and a high-level of health care.

The protease inhibitor nafamostat, currently used in Japan and Korea for pancreatitis, owing to its anticoagulant properties for disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), is appealing for the treatment of COVID-19 infection, because it potently inhibits the transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) that, after virus binding to ACE-2, allows virus entry into the cells and replication. Moreover, it could prevent the DIC and pulmonary embolism frequently associated with COVID-19 infection.

Even though SARS-CoV-2 was declared by WHO as constituting no longer a public health emergency, the development of effective treatments against SARS-CoV-2 infection remains a critical issue to prevent complications, particularly in fragile patients. 

The results of an ad interim safety analysis showed similar overall trends for variables evaluating renal function, coagulation, and inflammation. Used for the first time in Europe, no drug adverse events were observed during treatment in any patients.  In the RACONA study, nafamostat showed a good safety profile and, therefore, could represent an effective tool, particularly against those variants that are more dependent on TMPRSS2 (e.g., omicron vs. delta variant).