BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

Trapping influenza neuraminidase

March 21, 2013 7:00 AM UTC

Researchers at The University of British Columbia have used a mechanism-based approach to design irreversible inhibitors of influenza virus neuraminidase that could have activity against flu strains resistant to marketed inhibitors of the target.1 The new molecules are being developed by CDRD Ventures Inc., the venture arm of The Centre for Drug Research and Development, a public-private partnership that commercializes discoveries from Canadian researchers.

Influenza virus uses neuraminidase to cleave sugars from host glycoproteins at the cell surface, allowing newly formed virions to escape from the infected cells and spread to others...