ANTIVIRAL TREATMENT AGAINST SARS-COV-2 AND OTHER CORONAVIRUSES

The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic has caused great human and economic losses on a global scale and has highlighted the need for therapies for the treatment and prevention of emerging RNA viruses. The ability of RNA viruses to mutate facilitates the rapid emergence of new variants, potentially resistant to antivirals and antibodies generated by vaccines, and complicates the development of effective treatments. The present invention is an antiviral therapy based on the combined use of a base analogue and peptides that inhibit the activity of coronavirus proteins that enhance the action of the analogue. In cell cultures, in the concentration range of the analogue tested or with the peptides tested, the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 was inhibited by 90%, reaching 99% at the highest dose of analogue. Notably, the combination of analogue with peptide exerts a synergistic effect that inhibits the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 by 100%.

1. This therapy has been successfully tested against the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in cell cultures. 2) Since the targets targeted by the peptides are conserved in coronaviruses, the therapy could be used against different emerging coronaviruses. 3) The combined treatment of analogue with peptide increases the inhibition of viral infectivity and decreases the probability of resistant variants that overcome the treatment appearing. This gives a great advantage to this invention, since other available treatments act against a single target, with the probability of resistance appearing being greater. 4) This combinatorial therapy makes it possible to reduce the dose of the compounds, reducing their toxicity without losing effectiveness.

This invention is part of the pharmaceutical sector. It could be applied for the treatment of serious diseases caused by infection with SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses. Therefore, this therapy could be used as a first-line treatment in future pandemics caused by coronaviruses. It could also be applied in the veterinary field and in the food industry, since the therapy does not act specifically on human cells.