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One universal antiviral to rule them all?

(www.cuimc.columbia.edu)
331 points breve | 1 comments | 26 Aug 25 14:07 UTC | HN request time: 0.392s | source
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Geee ◴[26 Aug 25 17:24 UTC] No.45029614[source]▶
It was already invented [0], but the patents were bought by a small company in New Zealand (some kind of big pharma shell company?) who isn't seriously developing it and now appears to be defunct.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRACO

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ajmurmann ◴[26 Aug 25 17:33 UTC] No.45029716[source]▶
Doesn't sound all the bad from the linked wiki:

""" In March 2024 Kimer Med announced it has signed a contract valued at up to USD$750,000 (NZD$1.3 million) with Battelle Memorial Institute (Battelle), the world’s largest independent, nonprofit research and development organization. The contract is focused on the discovery and development of new antiviral drug candidates for the treatment of alphaviruses. """

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forgotpwagain ◴[26 Aug 25 17:57 UTC] No.45030014[source]▶
The cynical part of me wonders: if this has been a promising approach for 10+ years, why weren't they able to secure VC funding years ago (or nonprofit biomedical research funding from places like the Gates Foundation that care a lot about infectious disease)?
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1. Spooky23 ◴[26 Aug 25 19:52 UTC] No.45031495[source]▶
There’s alot of promising approaches and investments made.

The miracle of the mRNA covid vaccine and the use of that framework to treat cancer is a good example.

As we wind down research in the US, there will be lots of churn as the market finds new approaches to development.