Drew Dixon
Several University of Florida scientists are joining European researchers on a project designed to develop drugs that could fight another global pandemic.
UF Professor and Chair of medicinal chemistry at the College of Pharmacy Hendrik Luesch is now part of the new Vigilant research network. He’s a co-principal investigator in the newly established consortium that brings experts together to develop antiviral compounds designed to stem the spread of a virus in the early stages of another pandemic.
“Vaccines are an essential part of the fight against pandemics, but they are only available months after an outbreak,” Luesch said.
“Instead of playing catch-up and developing antivirals and vaccines against the specific virus once the genomic sequence becomes available, we aim to develop host-directed therapeutics that can be effective against any emerging virus on day one of a pandemic. These agents target human proteins essential for virus replication and are hijacked by viruses.”
The Vigilant research network is funded by the European Union. The E.U. established the network to take a proactive approach to developing vaccines and other drugs in anticipation of another worldwide disease outbreak.
The COVID pandemic provided many lessons for the approach to the next outbreak.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we assembled a dream team of scientists in the U.S. and Europe and characterized a new mechanism of action to combat SARS-CoV-2 to develop host-directed therapeutics with broad-spectrum antiviral activity based on one of our marine-derived natural products, which prevents the production and functional viral glycoproteins and inhibits viral replication,” Luesch said.
“Our work caught the attention of a European consortium, as our lead compound showed potent cellular activity against coronaviruses, Influenza A and potentially other viruses of pandemic concern.”
The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NAID) within the National Institutes of Health is an associate partner in the joint project with the E.U.
“We need science beyond borders and teamwork across continents to address global health threats,” Luesch said. “Working with the Vigilant research network will improve our preparedness for future pandemics.”
UF faculty collaborating with Luesch on the project include Research Associate Professors of Medicinal Chemistry Qi-Yin Chen, Ranjala Ratnayake and Gustavo Seabra.
