Beijing Entaiwei Medicine Science Technology Co. Ltd. has described prodrugs of β-D-N4-hydroxycytidine reported to be useful for the treatment of viral infections.
Researchers from Shandong University and colleagues presented the characterization of [I] as the most active compound from a series of novel diarypyridimine derivatives intended to overcome resistance to NNRTI-resistant HIV-1 strains. The compound displayed EC50 values of 0.0010 and 0.18 µM against HIV IIIB and RES056 strains, respectively.
Viruses can evolve and mutate rapidly to establish resistance, making the development of durable and effective antiviral therapies challenging. The innate immune system has the ability to target pathogen membranes through the expression of short antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which exert direct antimicrobial activity and can therefore act as antiviral agents against enveloped viruses. Researchers from New York University and affiliated organizations have presented the discovery and preclinical evaluation of novel family of AMP mimetics, called peptoids, as potential new antiviral candidates.
Researchers from Infex Therapeutics Ltd. have announced the nomination of a clinical candidate for its in-house developed COV-X program. The novel first-in-class small molecule is an oral pan-coronavirus papain-like protease (PLpro) inhibitor, which was selected based on preclinical data that demonstrated in vivo efficacy of the candidate a murine model of SARS-CoV-2.
Researchers from Collaborations Pharmaceuticals Inc. recently reported the discovery and preclinical evaluation of a novel pleconaril-based molecule, 11526092, being develop as an antiviral agent against enteroviruses.
Scientists from the Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute and collaborators have reported the application of a multispecific, multiaffinity antibody (Multabody, MB) platform derived from the human apoferritin protomer to enable the multimerization of antibody fragments against SARS-CoV-2. These MBs showed high potency to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 even at lower concentrations than their corresponding MAb counterparts.
Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) is an enzyme ubiquitously expressed in all tissues whose inhibition has proven effective in preventing viral replication. Previous knowledge on DHODH inhibitor vidofludimus calcium demonstrated that this compound inhibits viral replication of DNA, RNA and retroviruses and induces innate immune responses that lead to an antiviral state thus inhibiting virus reactivation.
Nanjing Zhihe Pharmaceutical Technology Co. Ltd. has described nucleotide derivatives acting as prodrugs reported to be useful for the treatment of viral infections.
As country after country downshifts out of pandemic mode, the need for affordable COVID-19 therapies continues, especially in middle-income countries that are not included in current voluntary licensing arrangements. To meet that need, the WHO is calling on manufacturers of those drugs to extend the geographic scope of their licensing agreements to allow competition and price reductions.
