Additional early-stage research and drug discovery news in brief, from: Athira Pharma, Chroma Medicine, Cognition Therapeutics, Geovax Labs, Longhorn Vaccines and Diagnostics LLC, Omega Therapeutics.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is set to conduct a phase I trial with Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp.’s TNX-1800 (recombinant horsepox virus, live vaccine), a vaccine candidate to protect against COVID-19.
Researchers from Hokkaido University (Japan) and colleagues have identified 2-thiouridine (s2U) as a broad-spectrum antiviral ribonucleoside analogue, by phenotypic screening of a library of 753 nucleoside analogues for antiviral effects. s2U showed antiviral activity against several ssRNA+ viruses, including DENV, SARS-CoV-2 and its variants of concern.
The U.S. FDA recently released a guidance for non-invasive remote monitoring devices, which were granted tremendous leniency during the COVID-19 pandemic as a means of reducing the demands on hospitals and doctor’s offices. That policy has been extended for the non-COVID era as part of the agency’s strategic plan to improve health equity by ensuring that access to digital health technologies is enjoyed by diverse American populations in a variety of health care access-challenged geographical areas.
Researchers from Generate Biomedicines Inc. have detailed the discovery and preclinical characterization of GB-0669, a spike S2-targeted monoclonal antibody (MAb) being developed for the prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Machine learning models were used to identify MAbs targeting the conserved S2 stem helix and RBD class IV region of spike.
In a study published in Nature on Oct. 11, coinciding with the beginning of IDWeek 2023 in Boston, researchers from Harvard Medical School described EVEscape, a method for anticipating the movements of SARS‑CoV‑2 by predicting potential mutations likely to escape current vaccines and treatments.
Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis reported filing patent protection for their breath test that quickly identifies those infected with SARS-CoV-2, requires only one or two breaths to be performed, and provides results in less than a minute.
In a study published in Nature on Oct. 11, coinciding with the beginning of IDWeek 2023 in Boston, researchers from Harvard Medical School described EVEscape, a method for anticipating the movements of SARS‑CoV‑2 by predicting potential mutations likely to escape current vaccines and treatments.
Due to the continual emergence of SARS-CoV-2 mutants, there is an unmet clinical need for broad-spectrum treatments for COVID-19. A potential target for novel treatments is the S2 subunit of the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein, which has been highly conserved across the different variants of the virus.
