Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 4, 2025
Live Imaging and Quantification of Viral Infection in K18 hACE2 Transgenic Mice Using Reporter-Expressing Recombinant SARS-CoV-2
Published on: November 5, 2021
Repurposing Drugs and Synergistic Combinations as Potential Therapies for Inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 and Coronavirus
Richard Boulon1, Clément Mazeaud1, Majid D Farahani1
1Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique-Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie, 531 boulevard des Prairies, Laval, Québec H7V 1B7, Canada.
None:
Drug repurposing can serve an important role in rapidly discovering medicament options for emerging microbial pandemics. In this study, a pragmatic approach is demonstrated for screening and testing drug combinations as potential broad-spectrum therapies against SARS-CoV-2 and other betacoronaviruses. Rapid cell-based phenotypic small molecule screens were executed using related common-cold-causing HCoV-OC43 betacoronavirus to identify replication inhibitors from a library of drugs approved by regulatory agencies for other indications. Given the best inhibitors, an expedient checkerboard strategy then served to identify synergistic drug combinations. These combinations were then validated using more challenging assays involving SARS-CoV-2 and variants. Promising drug combinations against multiple viral variants were discovered and involved Tilorone with Nelfinavir or Molnupiravir.
Related Concept Videos
01:27Combined Effects of Drugs: Synergism
Such synergistic combinations...
01:28Structure-Activity Relationships and Drug Design
SAR studies the intricate relationship between a drug's chemical structure and biological activity. It focuses on understanding how modifications to a drug's structure can influence...