Oral antiviral medication targets critical component of respiratory syncytial virus: Study

oral antiviral medication has been developed that targets a crucial component of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) polymerase and suppresses the manufacture of viral genetic material, potentially providing an effective therapy for RSV illness.

The findings, which were published in the journal Science Advances, identified AVG-388 as the primary therapeutic candidate, which efficiently limits the function of the viral RNA polymerase, an enzyme responsible for viral genome replication. RSV is a significant cause of lower respiratory infections in newborns and immunocompromised people, yet there is no effective treatment. In 2015, the virus caused an estimated 33.1 million infections globally, resulting in 3.2 million hospitalizations and 59,800 fatalities.

Finding effective RSV medicines has been difficult. RSV has avoided advanced candidate classes that inhibit the virus from entering a cell through mutations. To address this problem, new drug research efforts have focused on RSV’s viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase complex due to the possibility of a wider window of opportunity to combat the virus during viral genome replication and transcription.

“We have found the AVG family of inhibitors of RSV RNA production,” stated Dr. Richard K. Plemper, senior author of the study and head of the Center for Translational Antiviral Research in Georgia State’s Institute for Biomedical Science.

“We created the clinical candidate AVG-388 by chemical optimization, which is orally effective against RSV in animal models of infection.”

Also Read: Is travelling good for your mental health?

Furthermore, in human airway epithelial organoid cultures, the researchers revealed significant antiviral activity.

“In this study, we mapped an exciting druggable target in the RSV RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase and established the clinical potential of the AVG inhibitor class against RSV disease,” said Dr. Julien Sourimant, the study’s first author and a postdoctoral fellow in Georgia State’s Institute for Biomedical Sciences.

The study looked at the effect of therapy on viral replication at various oral dosages intended to prevent or cure illness. In the various illness models, they demonstrated that therapy lowered viral burden by several orders of magnitude.

“Our findings establish the groundwork for the AVG class’s official development as well as the structure-guided discovery of companion medicines with overlapping target locations but unique resistance profiles,” Plemper added.