Design of a SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease inhibitor with antiviral efficacy in a mouse model. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38547259/)

These scientists wanted to find new medicines that can help fight against a virus called SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. They made 85 different types of drugs that can stop a specific part of the virus from working. They tested these drugs to see which ones were the best at stopping the virus. One of the drugs they made, called Jun12682, was very good at fighting the virus in the lab and in mice that were infected with the virus. This drug could be taken by mouth and helped the mice survive and get better. This study shows that these new drugs could be very helpful in treating COVID-19 and its variants.

Tan B., Zhang X., Ansari A., Jadhav P., Tan H., Li K., Chopra A., Ford A., Chi X., Ruiz FX., Arnold E., Deng X., Wang J. Design of a SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease inhibitor with antiviral efficacy in a mouse model. Science. 2024 Mar 29;383(6690):1434-1440. doi: 10.1126/science.adm9724. Epub 2024 Mar 28.