EU Project on Corona Vaccine

Antiviral Agents and New Test Models

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has already claimed several thousand lives worldwide. A specific therapy or vaccination is not yet available. In an EU project, researchers led by Professors Jan Münch from University of Ulm and Thomas Schrader from the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) hope to accelerate the development of an effective antiviral therapy. In cooperation with other European partners, the researchers hope to quickly and efficiently test different potential active substances against the coronavirus. The consortium has acquired 2.8 million euros for the two-year "Fight nCoV" project, which is led by Stockholm University. 

As with other pathogens, the penetration of the coronavirus into the host cell is considered a promising target for antiviral drugs. This process is inhibited by three substances that are being investigated and optimized for their effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 in the "Fight nCoV" project. One of these substances is the molecular tweezers developed by Thomas Schrader and Jan Münch: These bind to the viral envelope and destroy the pathogen. In addition, a single-stranded oligonucleotide and macromolecular inhibitors, which prevent the interaction of the pathogen with the target cell, will be investigated. 

To test the efficacy and safety of these agents, the research group uses various models. In the Ulm laboratory, the researchers hope to determine the antiviral effectiveness of the substances using harmless viral pseudotypes. The most promising substances will subsequently be tested by European partners for the inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 in cell cultures. Animal models up to primates will be used for further investigations in order to start clinical studies in the near future. "We are facing the urgent task of finding an effective therapy against SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, we are making the test models available to other European research groups as soon as possible," emphasize virologist Münch and chemist Schrader.

 The novel coronavirus is a zoonosis: the pathogen has spread from animals to humans. If the antiviral substances actually prove effective against SARS-CoV-2, they might possibly be used in future zoonoses or other viral respiratory diseases.

"Fight nCoV" is funded by the EU through the HORIZON 2020 project. In addition to the Universities of Stockholm (Sweden), Ulm, Duisburg-Essen, and Aarhus (Denmark), the research institutions CEA (France) and Adlego Biomedical (Sweden) are involved.

  

Further information:

Prof. Dr. Jan Münch, Institute for Molecular Virology, University Hospital Ulm: Tel.: 0731 500-65154, jan.muench@uni-ulm.de

Prof. Dr. Thomas Schrader, Institute for Organic Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen: Phone: 0201 183-3081, thomas.schrader@uni-due.de

 Editor: Annika Bingmann