SHAH ALAM, March 4 — Malaysia along with Brazil, India and Thailand are conducting studies on the reuse of the drug nelfinavir for the treatment of dengue patients, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

He said the ‘repurpose’ process is now at the clinical trial stage to test the effectiveness of the drug that has previously been used in vaccines against Hepatitis C and also for the treatment of AIDS patients.

"This drug reuse study also involves collaboration from the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a research and development organisation that previously collaborated with the (Malaysian) Ministry of Health to produce Hepatitis C treatment.

"In any case, the efforts made in developing a vaccine or antiviral drug require a long period of time to fulfill certain procedures such as aspects of effectiveness and safety,” he said at a press conference after officiating the 2024 Dengue Research Visibility Day at the National Institute of Health (NIH) here today.

Dzulkefly said he was confident that the antiviral drug could be used by next year at the latest since the Nelfinavir re-use study is currently in the third of four stages before being approved.

He believes that the global collaboration under the name of the Dengue Alliance, which is driven by four endemic countries since 2022, can produce the clinical studies needed to develop new drugs with the most potential to treat the disease.

"We hope that the Dengue Alliance can record another success and give new hope in the treatment of dengue as achieved previously in producing treatment for Hepatitis C,” he said. — Bernama