Existing drug may be effective in treating SARS-CoV-2 Scientists from the University of Chicago have found that the drug masitinib may be effective in treating COVID-19. The drug, which has undergone several clinical trials for human conditions but has not yet received approval to treat humans, inhibited the replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in human cell cultures and in a mouse model, leading to much lower viral loads. X-ray crystallography gave us a strong indication of how this drug works, and we became confident that it has a chance to work in humans." Nir Drayman, University of Chicago