Mysore/Mysuru: In a major breakthrough that can add as a powerful ammunition to the fight against COVID, a Mysuru-based drug development company has discovered a new drug against human anti-SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2).

SARS-CoV-2 viral multiplication within the cell mainly depends on RdRp, a key enzyme that is involved in the RNA synthesis, the core material in the virus. City-based DRM Innovations has developed an entirely new drug to kill the SARS-CoV-2 virus using Artificial Intelligence. 

Dr. B.H. Manjunath, Director, DRM Innovations Pvt Ltd, who led the innovation said, “National Institute of Virology, Pune, a leading Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) affiliate, has conducted studies and confirmed that these new drugs had good inhibitory effects in killing the virus in cell based systems. Additional studies provided preliminary information that the drugs had no toxicity in cell based systems and in animals.”  Further, animal studies in JSS Pharmacy College, Mysuru, observed that the drug can be given orally and advanced software-based analysis identifies these drugs to be virocidal and has drug and dosage characteristics similar to Remdesivir. 

Effective against virus mutations too

All viruses — including SARS-CoV-2 — evolve over time and when a virus is widely circulating in a population and causing many infections, the likelihood of the virus mutating increases. The more opportunities a virus has to spread, the more it replicates — and the more opportunities it has to undergo changes.

When a virus replicates or makes copies of itself it sometimes changes a little bit, which is normal for a virus. These changes are called mutations. A virus with one or more new mutations is referred to as a variant of the original virus. This particular drug is effective even if the COVID virus undergoes mutations as the mutations occur mostly in the membrane protein, while the drugs target the RdRp directly.

“The key advantages are that these drugs can be given orally and has potential to cross the blood brain barrier since many COVID patients suffer from neurological problems and Remdesivir does not cross the blood brain barrier,” Dr. Manjunath added. 

Clinical use

DRM Innovations is looking for funding from Government of India, drug companies and other philanthropists to take this innovation into clinical use for the benefit of the country and the world that has been crippled by the pandemic. Once an effective oral drug is available, COVID-19 will join the ranks of H1N1 influenza (swine flu), which caused disruptions in 2011, but now is an easily treatable disease, Dr. Manjunath said.

The team of researchers include Dr. Basappa, Chairman, Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Department of Studies in Organic Chemistry, University of Mysore, Dr. P.A. Mahesh, Professor, Department of Respiratory Medicine, JSS Medical College and Hospital, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, Dr. Priya Abraham, Dr. Pragya Jadhav and Dr. Anitha Shete, National Institute of Virology, Pune, Dr. Pramod Kumar, Principal, JSS Pharmacy College and Saravanan Babu, JSS Pharmacy Research Head.

Dr. Manjunath informed that the US pharmaceutical giant, Johnson and Johnson, has evinced keen interest in extending co-operation to take the initiative to the next level, and had promised to join when the drug goes for the second stage of human clinical trials. “We would be able to develop and release the drug for the fight against COVID-19 within one or two months after getting necessary clearance for conducting the first phase of the human trials,” he added.