Drug development experts join fight against Zika virus

Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE) and the Emory Institute for Drug Development (EIDD) have launched an effort to identify and develop antivirals to treat the infection caused by Zika virus. There are currently no treatments or vaccines against the virus, which has been declared a public health emergency and is linked to birth defects.

According to George Painter, PhD, CEO of DRIVE and director of EIDD, "for the past three years, we have been synthesizing and developing antivirals against alphaviruses, such as chikungunya, and flaviviruses, such as dengue. Since Zika is a flavivirus in the same family as dengue and hepatitis C, we can apply what we have learned working on alphaviruses and flaviviruses, as well as from our past success with treatments for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and herpes viruses, in our search for an effective drug."

"We are making progress developing a Zika RNA Polymerase Assay," says Abel De La Rosa, PhD, chief scientific officer of DRIVE and EIDD. "This assay would allow us to rapidly screen our nucleoside/nucleotide library of compounds against Zika virus, some of which have shown activity against other flaviviruses. Lessons learned from HIV, hepatitis C and other viral diseases, where vaccine development lagged behind effective antiviral treatment successes, suggest the best rationale against emerging viral diseases is a parallel development path for both vaccines and antivirals."

The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) is providing critical early support for the Zika project. "We are very pleased to fund the expansion of DRIVE and EIDD 's work to include the treatment of the Zika virus," says H. Lee Herron, vice president, commercialization, Georgia Research Alliance. "DRIVE and EIDD's leadership have a proven track record of developing assays and effective drugs to treat many of the world's most devastating viruses."

Provided by Emory University