National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University researchers have identified four antiviral drug candidates that can inhibit SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, the team leader said on Tuesday.
One of the drug candidates — JMY206 — is more than 10 times stronger than remdesivir, the first antiviral drug fully certified for the treatment of COVID-19, said Yang Jinn-moon (楊進木), dean of the university’s College of Biological Science and Technology.
The other drugs identified are boceprevir, an oral, direct-acting hepatitis C virus protease inhibitor; telaprevir, a hepatitis C drug; and nelfinavir, an antiretroviral drug used to treat HIV-positive patients, Yang said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
The team’s starting point was its understanding that SARS-CoV-2 is highly similar to the virus that causes SARS, Yang said.
It then gathered SARS-related data and screened US Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs and natural products for possible COVID-19 treatment, he said.
By using artificial intelligence and big data, the team created simulations of changes in cell mechanisms after SARS-CoV-2 entered human host cells, and compared them with 250 globally published images of the 3D architecture of the main protease of the virus.
That resulted in the identification of six possible structures of key proteases — the enzymes that break down proteins and could lead to disease — that are essential for promoting SARS-CoV-2 entry, Yang said.
The team then identified the drugs that could inhibit the proteases and eventually SARS-CoV-2.
The most potent of the drugs, JMY206, can inhibit SARS-CoV-2 from entering cells, the team said.
The therapeutic benefits of JMY206 have also been proven in animal experiments and it can be a potential oral drug against COVID-19, Yang said.
The team has applied for a patent, and is planning to publish a paper on its findings and develop medicines by combining other medicinal components, Yang added.
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