Scientists blaze new path to fighting viral diseases
In a quest to develop new antiviral drugs for COVID-19 and other diseases, a collaboration led by scientists at The Wertheim UF Scripps Institute has identified a potential new drug against the virus that causes COVID-19.
In the process, the team devised a powerful new platform for finding medicines to fight many types of infectious diseases.
Writing in the Journal of the American Chemical Society in an article published online on Monday, the scientists said they began by seeking “druggable pockets” in the stable structures of viral genetic material. Like keyholes, these pockets offer promising spaces to intervene with a precise medication. The team then used systematic chemistry, computational and robotic drug discovery methods to find and perfect compounds able to function like the keys.
Their refined and optimized compound, dubbed Compound 6, led SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins to misfold, malfunction and, ultimately, be destroyed and removed by cells, in lab tests. Notably, their work could benefit other viral diseases, too, said Matthew D. Disney, Ph.D., institute professor and chair of the chemistry department at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology.