Rutgers Health researchers have developed an oral antiviral drug candidate for COVID-19 that could overcome major limitations of Paxlovid, currently the most prescribed oral treatment. As with its predecessor, the new drug candidate, Jun13296, targets a different viral protein than Paxlovid does and works alone rather than in combination with another drug called ritonavir. But Jun13296 beats the same lab’s first effort on several crucial metrics.
“This new compound is more potent than our first-generation candidate,” said Jun Wang, senior author of the study published in Nature Communications and professor of medicinal chemistry at Rutgers’ Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. “In animal studies, our second-generation inhibitor still provides 90% protection at just one-third the dose of our initial compound and significantly outperforms it in reducing viral loads in the lungs.”
It also addresses Paxlovid’s major limitation: drug interaction-induced side effects. “Most people who are at high risk of COVID-induced complications already take medications for diseases like high blood pressure or diabetes,” Wang said. “A large percentage of them cannot take Paxlovid because of drug-drug interaction problems.” To read the full story.