Doherty, Peter Mac working on new anti-viral technique

With its shredded plan, the virus cannot reproduce itself.

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By switching targets, the antiviral technique could theoretically be used against a wide range of different viruses, including those that have not yet reached humans.

However, as the team paper notes, they do not yet have a way to get their antiviral into human cells.

“This is really just the first step. They need to develop a delivery system, ”said Professor Peter White, head of the University of NSW’s molecular microbiology laboratory and expert in antiviral drugs.

“It’s a very smart technology, but it’s still in its infancy in cell culture at the moment. There is a lot to do. We will have to wait a few years. It’s more likely useful for the next one. It will take at least five years for it to even enter phase 1 clinical trials. “

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One possible delivery system: lipid nanoparticles, tiny balls of fat that can enter human cells. Professor Nigel McMillan of Griffith University recently published promising data using this approach.

“It’s CRISPR and it’s a really good job,” he said. “It looks promising and the approach has also thought of escape mutants. The therapeutic need is great and therefore all that promises in this area is good news.

Scientists say COVID-19 isn’t the first pandemic humanity has faced, and it won’t be the last – showing evidence to suggest that human activity like deforestation and agriculture is speeding up to which new viruses pass from animals to humans.

With pandemic threat levels higher than ever, new defenses are needed. Broad-spectrum antiviral drugs are seen as a key weapon to have in the pandemic arsenal.

“Unlike conventional antiviral drugs, the power of this tool lies in its flexibility of design and adaptability, making it suitable for a multitude of pathogenic viruses, including influenza, Ebola and possibly HIV,” said the Dr Mohamed Fareh, a researcher at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center and one of the drug’s co-inventors.

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