In 2020, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) was the first scientific conference to move from in-person to virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the fifth anniversary of the virtual conference, and the pandemic, some of those earliest COVID-19 patients have still not recovered.
The articles in this collection are from BioWorld’s ongoing coverage of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. They are available for free with registration. Note that we have added three critical tables, which are continuously updated:
University of Arizona has identified 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).
Researchers from Kevirx Inc. and collaborators have described the use of KVX-053, a PTP4A3 inhibitor aimed to be used for the prevention of COVID-19-associated cute lung injury (ALI).
Shanghai Curegene Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has synthesized 3C-like proteinase (3CLpro; Mpro; nsp5) (SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19 virus) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections (COVID-19).
Ocugen Inc. has received IND clearance from the FDA for OCU-500, an inhaled mucosal vaccine for COVID-19. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will sponsor and conduct a phase I trial of OCU-500 administered via inhalation into the lungs and intranasally as a spray.
Investigators at The Scripps Research Institute and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have designed novel covalent inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease (PLpro) and assessed their drug properties in preclinical models.
Novel vaccines that can effectively target both coronaviruses and influenza viruses would be desirable to counteract the significant health burden these respiratory pathogens pose.