Candidates: Broad-spectrum antiviral compounds
Category: ANTIVIRAL
Type: Protease inhibitors
Status: Cocrystal on April 22 said it expanded its license agreement with Kansas State University Research Foundation (KSURF) to include rights to additional preclinical leads and further develop proprietary broad-spectrum antiviral compounds to treat COVID-19. The compounds have shown broad spectrum activity against SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV, as well as in vivo efficacy data in a MERS-CoV animal model that was recently used for in vivo study of remdesivir, Cocrystal President Sam Lee, PhD, stated.
Cocrystal has been granted an exclusive, royalty-bearing right and license to small molecule therapeutic inhibitors against coronaviruses, picornaviruses, and caliciviruses covered by patent rights controlled by KSURF. Cocrystal said it intends to pursue R&D of the antiviral compounds for coronavirus, including preclinical and clinical development. The expanded license provides more targeted, potent compounds for further development, according to the company.
Cocrystal’s technology is designed to generate a 3-D structure of inhibitor complexes at near-atomic resolution, which the company says provides it with the ability to identify novel binding sites.
COVID-19: 200 Candidates and Counting
To navigate through the >200 potential therapeutic and vaccine options for COVID-19, GEN has grouped the candidates into four broad categories based on their developmental and (where applicable) clinical progress:
● FRONT RUNNER – the most promising therapeutics/vaccines based on clinical progress, favorable data or both.
● DEFINITELY MAYBE – earlier phases with promising partners, or more advanced candidates in development that have generated uneven data
● KEEPING AN EYE ON… – interesting technology, attracting notable partners, or both, but preliminary data.
● TOO SOON TO TELL – longshots pending additional experimental and/or clinical data.
GEN has also tagged the most common treatment types:
● ANTIVIRAL
● VAX
● ANTIBODY
● RNA
