Two experimental medications for cat coronavirus infections are the latest drugs to be spruiked as potential COVID-19 cures, prompting the TGA to reiterate warnings against online overseas drug purchases.

Known as GS-441524 and GC376, copies of the unapproved drugs are said to be in high demand on the black market because of their success in treating the potentially fatal cat coronavirus disease, feline infectious peritonitis — albeit at hefty prices.

But now interest has switched to human health, following Canadian research, published in Nature Communications, that shows the compound GC376 blocks replication of SARS-CoV-2 in cell culture.

Researchers at the University of Alberta claimed GC376 and its prodrug are “strong candidates for the treatment of human coronavirus infections because they have already been successful in animals”.