2023-12-29 19:45:11
COVID Moonshot is an open, collaborative, patent-free science drug discovery campaign directed against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The campaign has generated a wealth of data on the virus’ main protease, including information that could pave the way for the development of new and better therapies.
More than 200 volunteer scientists from 47 academic and industrial organizations in 25 countries have participated in this innovative collaboration.
“COVID Moonshot provides an example of open science drug discovery leading to advances in drug discovery for infectious diseases, an area of research of great public importance but chronically underfunded by the private sector,” stated Melissa L. Boby of the Sloan Kettering Institute in the United States, and their colleagues.
Due to its essential role in viral replication, the SARS-CoV-2 major protease (Mpro) is an attractive target for antiviral development. Current SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitor drugs, including those taken from already available antiviral lines such as Paxlovid and Xocova, have demonstrated clinical success. However, the use of these compounds has proven relatively limited and their peptidomimetic and covalent structures create problems for synthesis and administration.
Human cell (in blue) attacked by viral particles of the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus (in red). (Photo: NIAID/NIH)
Boby and colleagues have discovered a novel, non-covalent, non-peptide inhibitor that is chemically distinct from current Mpro inhibitors.
Leveraging a collaborative approach and the combined expertise of hundreds of individuals around the world, the open-source drug discovery campaign, which incorporated machine learning (a form of artificial intelligence), molecular simulations, and high-throughput structural biology and chemistry , has allowed us to assemble a detailed structural map of the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 and its biochemical activity.
Of the more than 18,000 compound designs produced by the COVID Moonshot consortium, several non-covalent, non-peptidomimetic inhibitors have been identified, including one compound that shows promise in bioavailability, safety, and antiviral activity.
All compound designs from the project have been shared openly, creating a rich, open, intellectual property-free knowledge base to drive future coronavirus drug discoveries.
Although the group’s work has been freely available since its inception in March 2020, the COVID Moonshot consortium has finally formally reported its results, in the academic journal Science, under the title “Open science discovery of potent noncovalent SARS -CoV-2 main protease inhibitors”. (Source: AAAS)
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