The COVID-19 pandemic sent the world into a tailspin, raising ongoing concerns about biosecurity, a subject that encompassed the better part of the morning June 16, the first day of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s annual conference in Boston.
Octant Inc. has received a $4.9 million grant from the Gates Foundation to support a new therapeutics program focused on human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers. The initiative will develop affordable, broad-spectrum, small-molecule antiviral drugs designed to disrupt the interaction between hundreds of variants of the HPV E6 protein and the tumor suppressor protein p53.
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a fatal demyelinating disease of the central nervous system caused by lytic infection of oligodendrocytes by pathogenic strains of the JC polyomavirus (JCV). This opportunistic virus has long persisted as a serious threat during periods of immunosuppression, and currently, there is no effective antiviral treatment available.
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) has synthesized antiviral compounds reported to be useful for the treatment of coronavirus acute respiratory syndrome.
Syndax Pharmaceuticals Inc. has disclosed extended purine tricyclic and bicyclic nucleosides as prodrugs reported to be useful for the treatment of viral infections.
Decoy Therapeutics Inc. has announced that a series of antiviral drug candidates previously designed by its Imp3act platform to be broadly effective against viruses of the paramyxoviridae family have also shown promising in silico activity against measles and Nipah viruses. The candidates were previously shown to be active in vitro against respiratory syncytial virus and human parainfluenza virus 3.
Orthogon Therapeutics LLC has closed an oversubscribed financing round, with funding to be used to accelerate the development of its first-in-class treatments for managing BK virus reactivation in transplant patients.
Researchers from Emory University, the U.S. CDC and collaborators have identified a broad-spectrum antiviral agent able to combat highly pathogenic arenaviruses. The compound, a ribonucleoside analogue that acts through RdRp inhibition, exhibited a good pharmacokinetic profile, oral bioavailability and tissue distribution in guinea pigs, while protecting animals from lethal challenges with Lassa and Junín viruses, even at very low doses.
