SUSU Project on Finding Effective Drugs for Coronavirus Wins a BRICS Grant

A project aimed at finding a cure for coronavirus infection received a BRICS grant. The research is carried out by SUSU scientists together with foreign colleagues. They test the effectiveness of long-known drugs and the effect of concentrated natural substances on the disease.

Finding a cure for the coronavirus remained a major medical problem over the past year. Scientists create drugs that can fight infection or search for drugs with suitable properties among those already known and widely used. The second method is preferable because it gives the fastest possible result. Testing the developed drugs may take several years because it is necessary to track side effects as well as the positive effect on the body. According to scientists, negative side effects may appear even after decades.

A team of researchers, consisting of scientists from South Ural State University and their colleagues from the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (Brazil), Amity University, the University of Delhi (India), the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), is engaged in precisely repurposing drugs and testing promising compounds against the main protease and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase SARS-CoV-2. This project won the competition held by organizations participating in the BRICS Science, Technology and Innovation Framework Program and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. A total of 8 projects out of 111 received support from the RFBR.

- Thousands of research groups in many countries are working on the COVID-19 problem, and our grant demonstrates that SUSU is one of the leaders in this area. Now our team has two years to achieve the result. According to our plan, the first part of the project will complete in 2021. The funding for the project will amount to five million rubles annually, which will help to conduct all the necessary tests and use the results of our research in medicine, - Vladimir Potemkin, head of the Laboratory for Computer Modeling of Medicinal Products, said.

Eight drugs in the DrugBank (a global database of substances already used in medical practice, all 13,562 compounds are considered) approved by the FDA (Food and Drugs Administration, U.S.) are now being studied by Indian and Brazilian scientists.

The list includes:

- phthalocyanine, used to treat actinic keratosis, Bowen's disease, skin cancer, and mycosis stage I or II;

- fenebrutinib, used to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia;

- R-428, used to treat lung cancer;

- Rimehepant, used to treat acute migraines;

- DB01897a, used as a prostaglandin D synthase inhibitor;

- Zk-806450, used as a serine-type endopeptidase inhibitor;

- Radotinib, used to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia;

- nilotinib, used to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia.

The research work is aimed at biological testing to find whether these compounds are effective as antiviral agents and help to treat coronavirus.

The second part of the project, which received a grant, is aimed at researching natural substances to be used used in food:

- 19-hydroxypenitrem A, isolated from fungi;

- 2 ', 3'-epoxymyrothecin A, isolated from fungi;

- Pitiryarubin A, isolated from yeast;

- Verrucarin Y, isolated from mushrooms.

They can fight viruses, but in small doses they do not have the desired effect. Scientists at SUSU performed calculations to find out in what concentration a substance can work against coronavirus infection. Now the researchers are checking the potential drugs in vitro at the University of Delhi (India), that is, on enzymes, protease and RNA replicase. At the University of Pernambuco (Brazil), they will examine the effect of concentrated substances on living infected organisms.

- We do not intend to be satisfied with the results already achieved. As soon as we get the final results of these studies, our team is ready to start modifying the drugs. After all, even an existing drug for COVID-19 can be replaced with a more active, less toxic, and with a shorter period of action, - Vladimir Potemkin explained.

When the effectiveness of medicines and natural substances is proven, the research team will patent the discovery. After that, the results of the team's work can be used to prescribe treatment for coronavirus patients.

South Ural State University (SUSU) is a university of digital transformations, where innovative research is conducted in most of the priority fields of science and technology development. In accordance with the strategy of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation, the university is focused on the development of big scientific interdisciplinary projects in the field of digital industry, materials science, and ecology. In the Year of Science and Technology, it will take part in the competition under the Priority-2030 program. The university acts as a regional project office of the World-class Ural Interregional Research and Education Centre (UIREC).

Provided by South Ural State University