Good News About Antiviral Drugs: Local Antibiotic Shows Nearly 100% Effectiveness in Inhibiting the Coronavirus.

As the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, there’s positive news regarding the first antibiotic developed by a Taiwanese biotech company to inhibit the coronavirus. According to a team from National Taiwan University, the effectiveness of this antibiotic in inhibiting coronavirus infection is almost 100%. The next step involves testing its effectiveness against the UK variant (Alpha) and the Indian variant (Delta).

Anti-Microbial Savior BioteQ Co., Ltd. (AMS BioteQ) today announced its newly developed antibiotic, YUAN-03, which has been confirmed through an extracorporeal antiviral test for the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) by a team led by Professor Sui-Yuan Chang of the Department of Clinical Laboratory Science and Medical Biotechnology at National Taiwan University. The results have shown that YUAN-03 can effectively inhibit the infection rate of the novel coronavirus, reaching nearly 100%.

Dr. Yi-Ju Tsai, Chairman of AMS BioteQ, stated that YUAN-03, a novel antibiotic derived from locally sourced edible medicinal fungi, represents Taiwan’s first domestically developed antibiotic. In its three years of existence, AMS BioteQ has successfully developed several novel antibiotics.

YUAN-03 previously, in mid-April this year, underwent an in vitro antiviral test for human coronavirus hCoV-OC43 conducted by the Institute of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Research at National Health Research Institutes. It was found to have an effective inhibition rate of nearly 100%. Today, AMS BioteQ has once again announced the results of the experiments conducted by Professor Sui-Yuan Chang’s team at the Department of Clinical Laboratory Science and Medical Biotechnology at National Taiwan University.

Professor Sui-Yuan Chang was Taiwan’s first scholar and expert to isolate the SARS-CoV-2 virus strain. Her team has played a crucial role in Taiwan’s epidemic prevention efforts, taking on numerous tasks related to testing and research. They are the research team with the most profound understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Professor Chang’s team conducted the in vitro antiviral test using methods such as virus plaque reduction assay, yield reduction assay, and acid phosphatase analysis. The results indicate that YUAN-03 has an inhibitory effect at a concentration of 51.63 µg/mL, and when tested at a concentration of 75 µg/mL, its effectiveness in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection is nearly 100%.

Dr. Yi-Ju Tsai stated that YUAN-03 will continue to undergo testing for the efficacy of inhibiting the Alpha and Delta variants of the virus. If the tests are successful, animal trials will be conducted, and there are plans to form collaborations with renowned foreign pharmaceutical companies. The goal is to make concrete progress in the development of new drugs for COVID-19 by the end of this year. This would enable Taiwan and the global community to actively combat the invasion of new variants of the virus and eliminate the threat posed by the pandemic through more effective treatments.