DevsHealth, the deeptech companyand a CataloniaBio &HealthTech member, and FundacióLluita contra la Sida i les Malalties Infeccioses havestarted a joint project to design new molecules aimed against SARS-CoV-2, whichwill provide effective and affordable treatments and reduce the progression ofthe disease and severe cases. The joint project will allow both parties touse DevsHealth DeepTech processes to design new candidate molecules, as well asthe expertise in drug validation and evaluation provided by Fundació.This will increase the success rates and efficacy of the future drugs againstSARS-CoV-2.
At the onset of thepandemics, treatments were not aimed at stopping the viral infection, but onlytried to control the worst sympthoms, such as inflamation or lack of oxygen, asan emergency treatment for patients arriving to hospitals. After some time, wenow have some drugs available against for COVID-19. Even if these drugs are astep forward in the right direction, none of them has changed the currentparadigm in the treatment of the disease. Their main drawbacks are animpractical administration which cannot be used outside of hospitals, or a lackof effectiveness. Having an easy to administer and effective drug would reallychange the course of the pandemic.
The first phase of theproject, developed by DevsHealth, will focus on designing several candidatemolecules using computer simulations. «Based on the structure of some of thekey proteins in the infection and reproduction cycles of SARS-CoV-2 and thanksto our technology based on Artificial Intelligence, we will develop newmolecules that bind to those essential proteins blocking the functions of thevirus», explains Alfons Nonell-Canals, CEO and cofounder of DevsHealth.Once we have a set of candidate molecules, we will start the second phase ofthe project, where each molecule will be tested for safety and effectivenessagainst the infection, and we will go through all the pre-clinic phases in thedevelopment of the new drug.
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