Simon Fraser University chemist Robert Britton and a team of international researchers believe that their findings could lead to a more efficient way of discovering drugs for newly evolved viruses as well, such as the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).
A paper published in the journal Science on August 8 now suggests that it may be possible to speed up the drug discovery process. Simon Fraser University chemist Robert Britton and a team of international researchers believe that their findings could lead to a more efficient way of discovering drugs for newly evolved viruses as well, such as the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).
For the past 50 years, scientists have typically used synthetic and nucleoside analogues to develop drug therapies for diseases that require cellular division and/or the viral reproduction of infected cells. This process is typically challenging, intensive and limiting, according to Britton. With this new process, nucleoside analogues can be created months earlier than with the previous method.
“The reduction in time and cost of synthesis will vary, depending on the individual nucleoside analogue, but we have examples where we cut a 20-plus step synthesis, which takes several months to complete at the very least, down to three or four steps, which would only take a week or so,” said Britton.
Along with his research team, Britton was able to shorten the process by replacing naturally occurring carbohydrates typically used for synthesizing these types of drugs. The group also replaced naturally derived chiral materials with achiral materials, since they are typically more affordable and versatile.
“This entirely new approach builds on opportunities to diversify these drug scaffolds and should inspire new and unusual nucleoside analogue drug discoveries,” Britton said.
Drug discoveries have been at the forefront of headlines as of late due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched a program back in April called the Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program (CTAP) to move new treatments to patients as soon as possible. The goal was also to discover whether these new drugs are helpful or harmful. At the time of the program’s inception, 72 clinical trials of potential therapies for COVID-19 were underway with FDA oversight.
The FDA also noted back in April that it had experts standing by, ready to continue work with product developers of new drugs to prevent and treat COVID-19.
As of July, the FDA noted that several sponsors had provided clinical trial proposals for COVID-19 therapies before submitting investigational new drug (IND) applications. It was then that the administration decided to issue information on how it is reviewing research proposals.
The FDA states that once a sponsor submits an IND, the administration may determine that sufficient information has been provided to allow the trial to proceed. On the other hand, it may also determine that there is insufficient support to assure patient safety, in which case a clinical hold might be issued to prevent a proposed trial from starting.
The FDA has notably been careful in assessing whether proposed COVID-19 therapies in research proposals have potential safety concerns that might exacerbate the most serious and life-threatening symptoms of the disease.
Some of the proposals that the FDA has not allowed to proceed involve exposing patients to significant known risks of known drugs. Botanical substances, known toxic substances, and drugs or biological products approved for other indications without any plausible scientific basis have been generally halted by the FDA.
As of August 9, the U.S. surpassed five million confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.
