Repurposing Therapeutics For Viral Diseases With BIOVIA Discovery Studio

Viruses present uniquely difficult challenges for pharmaceutical R&D. Not only do these pathogens tend to mutate rapidly, they also utilize much of our own molecular machinery to proliferate. Candidate treatments must therefore find a means to prevent viral replication without significantly impacting normal bodily function. Considering the dire need for effective treatment against many zoonotic diseases – especially in light of the COVID-19 outbreak in December 2019 – traditional drug discovery techniques are likely too slow to bring rapid relief to patients. To this end, many researchers are looking to drug repurposing, searching lists of treatments previously approved for other uses by various regulatory bodies, to source novel therapies for current or emerging pathogens quickly. This should ensure resulting treatments are relatively safe, as previous clinical trials have done much of the work to assess toxicity risk. But the question remains: which treatments should be tested first? BIOVIA Discovery Studio offers a range of in silico techniques to virtually screen existing candidates for efficacy against viral targets, guiding drug repurposing projects and shortening the time to get treatments to the patients who need them most.