Repurposed Antivirals and Polymerase Inhibitors for COVID-19 Treatment

A team led by Dr. Jingyue Ju observed that hepatitis C and coronaviruses use a similar mechanism to replicate their RNA. They believe that a currently FDA-approved antiviral drug, sofosbuvir (for hepatitis C), as well as other approved anti-viral agents, AZT (for HIV/AIDS) and tenofovir alafenamide (for HIV and hepatitis B), may be effective against SARS-CoV-2. They have shown that these drugs inhibit the polymerase enzyme of SARS-CoV-2 and thus block its replication. Dr. Ju and his team will utilize their expertise in synthetic chemistry to generate many more such chemical compounds for testing in collaboration with Drs. Ho, Goff, and Sabo. The best chemical compounds that specifically inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 polymerase will be chosen as drug candidates. Columbia Technology Ventures techventures@columbia.edu 347-640-0528