Drugs cleared for treating diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, hepatitis C and HIV may stop the Delta variant of COVID-19 from replicating in, or infecting and spreading in, human cells, an analysis published Friday by Communications Biology found.

After testing 64 drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in other diseases, the researchers identified eight that block activity of certain viral enzymes, called proteases, that are essential for replication of the virus that causes COVID-19 to replicate in infected human cells.

The identified drugs include the blood sugar-control medication sitagliptin, sold under the brand name Januvia, among others, and the hepatitis C treatments daclatasvir, sold under the brand name Daklinza, and lycorine HCl, the researchers said.