Compounds Found That Inhibit SARS

A number of compounds that effectively inhibit the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have been found by researchers at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), working with Chembridge Corp. (San Diego, CA, USA).

Dr. Richard Kao, research assistant professor in the HKU department of microbiology, and his team used chemical genetics methods to screen a Chembridge library of more than 50,000 compounds in an attempt to identify small molecules that stop the spread of the coronavirus. After finding a number of compounds, the team is now working on identifying the mechanisms by which these compounds work in an effort to bring a SARS cure to the marketplace.

"The pioneering works of Drs. Schreiber [Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA] and Stockwell [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA] have laid down the foundation of chemical genetics. We just followed their footsteps and extended this new research paradigm to emerging infectious diseases, an increasingly alarming problem regionally and globally.”

"Richard [Kao] and his team are to be congratulated on the way they have approached and tackled this problem, and I hope that the early-stage success gained in the search for a potential treatment for SARS will be repeated on other targets in the future,” said Reg Richardson, Ph.D., European marketing manager, Chembridge.

SARs affected more than 8,000 people, killing over 800, mainly in Hong Kong and China during the period April-June 2003.


Related Links:
U. of Hong Kong
Chembridge