Researchers design a molecule that prevents the replication of coronaviruses

Researchers at Uppsala University have created a molecule that suppresses coronavirus replication and has the potential to be developed into a COVID-19 treatment drug. Both the novel strain and previously discovered coronaviruses are susceptible to the molecule. The article was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The image shows a model of the coronavirus enzyme, designed by Jens Carlsson group at Uppsala University. Image Credit: Andreas Luttens.

More than five million people have died because of the new coronavirus. Many lives could have been saved if antiviral medications had been accessible, but the healthcare system did not have them. During the pandemic, experts from all around the world sought to discover a drug, but developing new drugs takes a long time.

Researchers were able to discover the structure of the coronavirus and how it acts at the molecular level during the early months of the pandemic. One of the viral enzymes has been identified as a potential pharmacological target, a method that has been successful in the treatment of other viral diseases such as AIDS.

The idea is to create a molecule with the ability to identify and stick to the enzyme. This would limit its activity and, as a result, the virus’s ability to produce new viral particles, limiting the infection’s spread.

Researchers at Uppsala University began searching for inhibitors of the enzyme in 2020, in partnership with Scilifelab’s Drug Discovery and Development platform. Scientists utilized computer models to find molecules that could stop the enzyme from working. This has proven to be a quick technique to find beginning points for pharmaceutical design.

Using Swedish supercomputers, researchers were able to screen hundreds of millions of molecules to locate those that could attach to the enzyme. The models’ predicted compounds were then synthesized and put to the test in experiments.

The most promising molecule shows the same ability to inhibit the replication of the new coronavirus as the active substance in Paxlovid, a combination drug recently approved for treating COVID-19. Our molecule works well on its own, and we have shown that the molecule is also effective against previously identified variants of the coronavirus.”

Jens Carlsson, Study Lead Author and Associate Professor, Uppsala University