Ice, juice, the exact measure of liquor, a few drops of Angostura... What goes into a good New Year’s Eve cocktail? According to researchers working on vaccines for the most elusive viruses, it will be time soon to toast next-generation vaccines. If 2020 was the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2021 the year of mRNA vaccinations, 2022 brought polyvalent designs of antigens, evaluated highly neutralizing antibodies, and fine-tuned mRNA technology against SARS-CoV-2, HIV and the flu.
Pardes Biosciences Inc. has patented 3C-like proteinase (3CLpro; Mpro; nsp5) inhibitors (particularly HCoV-229E virus and/or SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors). They are reported to be potentially useful for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections (COVID-19).
Eleven vaccines have now been approved by the World Health Organization for preventing COVID-19, but all exhibit drastically reduced activities after 6 months. Unlike vaccines that express only the spike protein as the immunogen, live attenuated vaccines have the potential to confer a broader and more durable protection.
Emory University has identified deuterated and/or methylated N4-hydroxycytidine (NHC) analogues reported to be useful for the treatment of viral infections.
Ethris GmbH has entered into a collaboration with Diosynvax Ltd. to jointly develop a protective mRNA vaccine candidate against a broad range of betacoronaviruses utilizing the company's highly differentiated mRNA modification and design technologies as well as its lipidoid nanoparticle (LNP) and stabilization platforms.
RQ Biotechnology Ltd. (RQ Bio) has announced that the first of its discovered monoclonal antibodies to prevent COVID-19 in vulnerable patients, AZD-3152, has entered clinical trials.
The National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM) and Tokyo Medical and Dental University have divulged 3C-like protease (3CLpro) (SARS-CoV-2) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections (COVID-19).
CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. has obtained clearance from China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) to conduct clinical trials in China with SYH-2055, an oral small-molecule 3C-like protease (3CLpro) inhibitor against SARS-CoV-2.
New research has identified a novel receptor that interacts with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) by which the SARS-CoV-2 enters host cells, and shown it can be inhibited with marketed drugs, reducing expression of ACE2 and blocking viral entry.
