Looking to fill a treatment gap, the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is launching the first stage of a $100 million prize competition to support development of broad-spectrum, small-molecule antiviral therapies targeting viruses in the Togaviridae and Flaviviridae families.
Looking to fill a treatment gap, the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is launching the first stage of a $100 million prize competition to support development of broad-spectrum, small-molecule antiviral therapies targeting viruses in the Togaviridae and Flaviviridae families.
Orthoflaviruses such as dengue, West Nile and Zika viruses are a threat to public health for which no specific treatments exist. Their protease NS2B-NS3, also called orthoflavivirin, is an attractive drug target because it is essential for virus maturation. Targeting viral proteases has already proven effective for creating drugs against HIV, hepatitis C and SARS-CoV-2 viruses.
CNCCS SCARL Collezione Nazionale Dei Composti Chimici E Centro Screening and IRBM SpA have prepared new serine protease NS3/non-structural protein 2B (NS3/NS2B) (dengue virus) and/or (West Nile virus) and/or (Zika virus) and/or Japanese encephalitis virus inhibitors.
About 25% of subjects with West Nile virus (WNV) infection develop fever and about 1% have neuroinvasive disease. Recent research has proposed measuring CD169 in peripheral blood (monocyte/lymphocyte ratio) as a marker of viral infections. The usefulness of monocyte CD169 (mCD169) in peripheral blood was tested in subjects with active WNV infection.
A study led by Australian researchers at the University of Queensland has shown that a newly developed antibody targets the flavivirus nonstructural protein 1 and was shown to reduce viremia and improve survival in mouse models of dengue, Zika and West Nile infections.
