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. has been awarded up to $34 million over 5 years under a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).
Researchers from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais have published details on the discovery of novel anti-SARS-CoV-2 compounds with robust antiviral activity.
Researchers from Eradivir Inc. and affiliated organizations presented the discovery and preclinical evaluation of EV-21, a dual mechanism antiviral immunotherapy for the treatment of influenza infections. EV-21 was designed as a ligand-targeted drug conjugate, developed by linking the neuraminidase inhibitor zanamivir to two distinct haptens that bind to two different naturally occurring antibodies in humans. As a result, the candidate acts though a dual mechanism of action, which consists of potent recruitment of the human immune system to recognize and destroy free viruses and virus-infected cells.
Viral proteases are well-established therapeutic targets in HIV and hepatitis C virus infections. Following the recent COVID-19 pandemic, one of the strategies in place is SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) inhibition, given the crucial role of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro in the replication of the virus.
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.
