Current prophylactic and therapeutic approaches for SARS-CoV-2 are effective, but the need for new approaches with broad activity makes virus-host interactions an essential piece to look at.

While Moderna Inc. CEO Stéphane Bancel was the one on the hot seat at a March 22 hearing before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, biopharma profitability in general, and capitalism itself, came under fire as committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) railed about corporate greed in the sector.

Citing clinical trial data backed by real-world data, members of the U.S. FDA’s Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee voted overwhelmingly, 16-1, March 16 that the overall benefit-risk assessment is favorable for the use of Pfizer Inc.’s Paxlovid to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 in adults who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death.

Nucleoside or nucleotide antivirals are a common first-line treatment for viral diseases, acting as direct inhibitors of viral replication and transcription. The nucleoside GS-441524 and its prodrug remdesivir have shown broad-spectrum antiviral activity against several virus families, including Flaviviridae, Filoviridae, Pneumoviridae, paramyxoviruses and Coronaviridae.