Collaboration Opportunity for COVID-19 Therapeutic

COVID-19 Therapeutic

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is seeking a collaboration partner for a COVID-19 therapeutic that will stop the infected cells from replicating inside a host.

When SARS-CoV-2 enters a host, the cells replicate it and viral particles invade the nearby healthy cells. This happens because SARS-CoV-2’s genome is catalyzed by RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase (RdRP). This triggers an inflammatory response and can lead to transmission to another host. A therapeutic that can stop this replication from happening is imperative.

Inventors at NCI and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) have discovered that the nitroxide antioxidant, TEMPOL, interferes with RdRP’s assembly and activity and can reduce the viral replication in vitro. This shows that TEMPOL could be used as an antiviral to treat people that have a SARS-CoV-2 infection. The competitive advantage of using TEMPOL as a COVID-19 therapeutic are that it targets replication of SARS-CoV-2, it is inexpensive, accessible, and has low cytotoxicity.

If you are interested in reading more about this technology, please visit the abstract.