Antiviral activity against sars-cov-2 of a pharmaceutical Substance based on immobilized recombinant human interferon lambda-1

Madonov, P. G.; Svyatchenko, V. A.; Legostaev, S. S.; Kikhtenko, N. A.; Kotlyarova, A. A.; Oleinik, L. A.; Baikalov, G. I.; Udut, V. V.

Despite significant advances in the pharmaceutical industry, there are currently no effective universal drugs for the treatment of viral infections. This fact became especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. One type of the potential antiviral agents are interferons, which have already proved to be effective for the treatment of diseases caused by viruses. This article discusses the possibility of using recombinant human interferon lambda-1 and its pegylated form for the treatment of infection caused by SARS-CoV-2. Experiments on a Vero E6 cell culture showed that a pharmaceutical substance based on recombinant human interferon lambda-1 immobilized on PEG 1500 by electron-beam pegylation exhibited significant antiviral activity with high therapeutic index against SARS-CoV-2 and produced low cytotoxic effect on Vero E6 cells. It is concluded that this substance can be used to create a drug for the treatment of viral infection caused by SARS-CoV-2.