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Furthermore, NTZ synergizes with remdesivir, and it broadly inhibits growth of SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1.351 (beta), P.1 (gamma), and B.1617.2 (delta) and viral syncytia formation driven by their spike proteins. Strikingly, oral NTZ treatment of Syrian hamsters significantly inhibits SARS-CoV-2-driven weight loss, inflammation, and viral dissemination and syncytia formation in the lungs. These studies show that NTZ is a novel host-directed therapeutic that broadly inhibits SARS-CoV-2 dissemination and pathogenesis in human and hamster physiological models, which supports further testing and optimization of NTZ-based therapy for SARS-CoV-2 infection alone and in combination with antiviral drugs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1101\/2022.02.08.479634","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,9]],"date-time":"2022-02-09T17:35:12Z","timestamp":1644428112000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["The oral drug nitazoxanide restricts SARS-CoV-2 infection and attenuates disease pathogenesis in Syrian hamsters"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"given":"Lisa","family":"Miorin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chad 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