COVID-19 therapy from Emory and diagnostic from Sherlock co-founders; plus Genentech, Homology and more

The Emory Institute for Drug Development and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are conducting preclinical studies of nucleoside analog to treat COVID-19, an Emory University spokesperson told BioCentury. EIDD-2801, which is slated to enter the clinic in April for flu, has the same mechanism of action as remdesivir from Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD). Reported in December in Journal of Virology, EIDD-2801’s parent compound inhibited replication of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in monkey kidney cells with an EC₅₀ of 0.56 μM. A prior study on the parent compound showed an EC₉₀ against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) of 6μM.

Sherlock Biosciences Inc. co-founders Feng Zhang, Omar Abudayyeh and Jonathan Gootenberg uploaded a protocol for rapid detection of COVID-19 using the company’s SHERLOCK (Specific High Sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter unLOCKing) technology. The assay, which can be read out via a dipstick in one hour, uses CRISPR-Cas13a to detect COVID-19 RNA in patient samples by triggering collateral cleavage of a reporter RNA (see “SHERLOCK: Leveraging CRISPR, SynBio for Diagnostics”)...