Facts on Drug Discovery for COVID19
There is a lot of discussion and a media storm about the search for a drug or vaccine to combat SARS-C0V-2, COVID19. Our organization, American Leprosy Missions, is actively engaged in this process as I posted about here and here.
Most people don’t spend their lives in molecular biology, so modern drug discovery can seem very complex. I often use the following illustration to explain how molecules are really just puzzle pieces looking for partners.
Hemoglobin, a molecule in your red blood cells, loves the molecule O2, oxygen. The hemoglobin molecule has an open slot that O2 fits wonderfully well into, just like a puzzle piece. Hemoglobin picks up oxygen in the lungs and carries it throughout the body where it gives up the oxygen to your body parts which need it. Hemoglobin exchanges oxygen for CO2, carbon-dioxide. Hemoglobin carries CO2 to the lungs, gives it up, we exhale it, and the hemoglobin picks up freshly breathed-in O2. This is a wonderful thing and it keeps us alive.
Most of us know this about red blood cells. Another thing most people know is that if you sit in a running car in a garage you will die. Why? Carbon-monoxide poisoning. What is happening is the hemoglobin’s slot for O2, oxygen, actually fits O1, monoxide, even better. Our body’s own hemoglobin ignores the O2 coming in and instead picks up carbon-monoxide which does your body no good. Quite simply, monoxide is a better fit for the molecular structure of hemoglobin. Molecules are puzzle pieces looking for partners.
While oversimplified, this is how molecular drug discovery works. Today computers can use models of pathogens, like COVID19, to investigate whether there are drugs or chemical compounds that can interfere with the normal activity of the virus, disrupting its ability to enter a cell or preventing its ability to replicate. This type of research is happening all over the world right now.
Our team at University of Cambridge in England, led by Dr. Sundeep Chaitanya, is involved in a more targeted approach to structure-guided drug discovery. They are using commercially available large compound libraries from companies like Enamine and classifying them using algorithms like Deepchem on an accelerated supercomputing cluster to narrow down the search for potential chemical targets. Our team is using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify rightly fitting and biologically relevant chemical compounds similar to existing FDA-approved drugs.
While others are working on repurposing drugs, we are busy searching for a solution among thousands of drug molecules to find the perfect “puzzle piece” for COVID19.
We are optimistic about the prospects of finding promising compounds. Viral systems are much less complicated than cellular systems like bacteria. COVID19 is a single-stranded RNA virus expressing just a few protein molecules. This simplicity in structure makes it easier to look for keys to unlock a way to stop it.
A recent publication by Deloitte uses a lock and key analogy to make the same point about searching for the right fit, as seen in the image below.
Repurposed drugs may reach patients in as little as three months, as this paper illustrates. New compounds which are discovered to be potentially potent will take 8–12 months of expedited processes to reach patients. We are optimistic about finding a drug but cautious of the timelines.
We are not alone in the search for a treatment for COVID19, and it is likely the solution will come from a group just like ours, working day and night using supercomputers to identify the perfect chemical molecule that will end the malicious work of COVID19. Our current efforts to find drugs which improve the outcomes for millions of people affected by neglected tropical diseases are on hold while we lend our help to this global search. I pray we find that solution quickly, for the sake of millions.
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