The gastrointestinal tract could be key to developing new drugs to combat resistant bacteria. Computational analysis of the human microbiome has revealed a new class of peptides with antimicrobial potential that, once synthesized, inhibited the growth of several microorganisms in vitro and in vivo.
Researchers at De Montfort University and Loughborough University have identified trifluoroquinazolines acting as lysyl tRNA synthetase (KARS) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of parasitic infections.
Rockefeller University has disclosed non-structural protein 3 (nsp3; PL-PRO) (SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19 virus) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19).
Following the World Health Organization’s escalation of mpox to a public health emergency of international concern on Aug. 14 and the emergence of what appears to be a more severe strain of the orthopoxvirus, the spotlight has focused on a handful of companies working on vaccines and antivirals. Shares of Geovax Labs Inc., Emergent Biosolutions Inc. and Tonix Pharmaceuticals Inc. were all trading up Aug. 19.
Researchers have identified a gene associated with whether patients hospitalized with respiratory viral infections recover rapidly or face life-threatening complications. The gene has the potential to be used as a diagnostic tool or biomarker, which could help triage patients suffering from severe respiratory infections. Having such a biomarker would help clinicians in their early risk assessments to manage their intervention strategies.
Human rhinoviruses (hRVs) are associated with upper respiratory tract infections such as the common cold, otitis media or sinusitis. In immunocompromised individuals or older people, hRVs can exacerbate existing pulmonary conditions such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
“There are hundreds of strains of bird flu, and most of them don’t infect humans, or even mammals,” Stephen Cusack told BioWorld. “There are two main reasons for that.” To be able to cause an infection, a virus “has to be able to get into the cell, and for that it needs a receptor,” Cusack said. For influenza viruses, those receptors are hemagglutinin receptors, and they differ in subtle but important ways between birds and mammals.
Following the World Health Organization’s escalation of mpox to a public health emergency of international concern on Aug. 14 and the emergence of what appears to be a more severe strain of the orthopoxvirus, the spotlight has focused on a handful of companies working on vaccines and antivirals. Shares of Geovax Labs Inc., Emergent Biosolutions Inc. and Tonix Pharmaceuticals Inc. were all trading up Aug. 19.
Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. is advancing development of its live attenuated virus vaccine, TNX-801 (recombinant horsepox virus), for preventing mpox and other infectious diseases.
As mpox has now been found in the EU, the race for an effective vaccine has accelerated, with a study failure but increased vaccine production from Europe. The U.S. NIH just released top-line results from a preliminary analysis of a placebo-controlled study of Siga Technologies Inc.’s antiviral, tecovirimat, showing it missed the primary endpoint of statistically significant improvement within 28 days post-randomization in time to lesion resolution for patients in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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