Further to the recently published research paper mentioned above (from Saudi Arabia, France, and Japan), here are some juicy bits that make the possibility of Biotron's compounds being effective against SARS-CoV-2.
As we all know by now, Biotron's numerous compounds, of which, cinnamoylguanidine (Bit036), "a compound which was shown in earlier experiments to be antiviral and to inhibit ion channel proteins from other viruses" (United States Patent Application 20190389816), is just one that demonstrated strong efficacy in manipulating E protein ion channel activity in SARS-Cov-1.
According to the recent Saudi paper, Biotron's compounds such as "the drugs Amantadine, Hexamethylene amiloride and also BIT225 (BIT225 is in clinical trials) completely block the IC (ion channel) activity of SARS-CoV-1.9, 10." To learn this, they researched the literature on previous SARS-Cov-1 studies and found Biotron's previously published work:
9 Wilson, L., Gage, P. & Ewart, G. Hexamethylene amiloride blocks E protein ion channels and inhibits coronavirus replication. Virology 353, 294-306, doi:10.1016/j.virol.2006.05.028 (2006).
10 Behmard, E., Abdolmaleki, P. & Taghdir, M. Understanding the inhibitory mechanism of BIT225 drug against p7 viroporin using computational study. Biophys Chem 233, 47-54, doi:10.1016/j.bpc.2017.11.002 (2018)
They were not aware of Biotron's more recent patents and therefore made no reference to their other compounds such as BIT036 or others. Regardless, the genie is out of the bottle now, and the world will catch on - even if just the Aussie trading market - that independent researchers in far away lands have come to the conclusion that Biotron's compounds are the bees knees of killing SARS-like viruses. They even go as far to say that "we conclude that use of approved drugs shown to act as SARS E protein inhibitors can help prevent further casualties from COVID-2019 ."
In case anyone hasn't caught on yet, the protein inhibitors they are referring to are the ones they have referenced from Biotron's previously published works.
So, now we have a bunch of independent researchers suggesting that Biotron holds the elixir of life when it comes to the new pesky, and Biotron having made a patent for the same (even if unknowingly at the time), coupled with years of testing the same technology that is likely to eradicate an even more pesky and stubborn virus (HIV), what are we to make of all this?
Well, let's try to dig into the new researchers facts to see how they came up with their significant conclusion.
Firstly, the proverbial nutshell argument is this:
Premise 1: Biotron's ion channel inhibitors showed antiviral activity on SARS-CoV-1 Premise 2: SARS-CoV-1 ion channels in the E Protein are identical to SARS-CoV-2 ion channels Therefore: Biotron's ion channel inhibitors will show antiviral activity on SARS-CoV-2.
This is deductively valid. But deductively valid arguments are not necessarily true, unless of course, all the premises are true. If so, then the conclusion must be true (for those not familiar with formal logic, see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deductive_reasoning).
So, how did the new researchers demonstrate their premises?
Firstly, lets look at the pesky's family tree. (coming from the same lineage, I'm quite familiar with it ).
You can see on the right middle, the 4 SARS-CoV-2 strains coloured olive green (two from China and two from the USA). Their closest relative is Bat-SARS-like coronavirus, China. Moving up to the parent, you have another human olive green human coronavirus, SARS-CoV-1 Canada Toronto. This is all based on genomic sequencing and is very reliable for the sake of establishing such relationships.You can see all the other human coronaviruses coloured in the same green, seven in total. The latest human CoV is lucky number 7, the one that is going to get us all. Revenge of the bats.
The next important part is the identification of some of the E protein components, and particularly the parts that are identical between SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2. Most importantly, and the crux of the matter, is that these parts are the ion channels that are used for viral replication where Biotron's compounds do their magic. If it works on SARS 1, the theory goes that it will work on SARS 2.
The horizontal lines below show sequencing of SARS 1 & 2 and two bat coronaviruses E protein clusters. Note the thin red box surrounding the bottom two lines of the sequences. I've drawn a red arrow at each end. These two lines are identical. They are ion channel amino acids (N15 & V25).
We'll leave the final words to the authors of the Saudi paper:
"The high level of conservation of the IC (ion channel) and PBM within clade 2, including SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2, strongly suggests that the available inhibitors for the E protein of SARS-CoV1 should also be active on SARS-CoV-2."
).
(20min delay)