More than two years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, people are realizing that the “new normal” will probably involve learning to co-exist with SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19 disease). Some treatments are available, but with new variants emerging, researchers are looking toward new strategies. In research published today (June 29, 2022) in the journal ACS Infectious Diseases, scientists report that apratoxin S4, an anticancer drug candidate that targets a human protein, can interfere with the replication of many viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A, offering a possible pan-viral therapy.
Although a number of COVID-19 vaccines exist, some people who received the shots have still become sick with the disease, and only a fraction of the world’s population is vaccinated. That means effective treatments are still needed, and a few are now available that target the virus’s RNA polymerase — the enzyme it uses to make more of its own RNA inside human cells. But some of these drugs, such as remdesivir, don’t work unless given at very early stages of infection and can require injections.
Source: https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-target-a-human-protein-to-squash-covid-19-and-other-viruses/