CDI, Merck Scientists Publish on Preclinical Investigational Antiviral Candidate Broadly Active Against Human Coronaviruses

An investigational antiviral compound demonstrated potent in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2, as well as other related coronaviruses, according to a new study by scientists from the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) and Merck (known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada).

The novel protease inhibitor known as MK-7845 showed preliminary efficacy against a wide variety of human coronaviruses using in vitro and in vivo models, according to the study in the journal Viruses. The work was done through the unique drug accelerator known as the Metropolitan AntiViral Drug Accelerator (MAVDA), funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The models showed that MK-7845 inhibited the main protease (enzyme) known as 3CLPro, which is crucial for viral replication in SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses. 

MK-7845 was optimized utilizing structural guided medicinal chemistry and in studies demonstrated antiviral activity against all known SARS-CoV-2 clinical variants tested, as well as the MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome) virus.

The senior author of the publication is David Perlin, Ph.D., chief scientific officer and senior vice president of the CDI. The first author is Nadine Alvarez, Ph.D., a supervisor research assistant member of infectious diseases in the Perlin Laboratory. Perlin commented that “developing antiviral agents active against all known human coronaviruses is important to mitigate the ongoing COVID-19 disease, as well as any future pandemics that may arise due to a new coronavirus.”

MAVDA is funded by a three-year, $65,141,731 million grant from the NIH and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID). MAVDA is one among the nine Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Centers for Pathogens of Pandemic Concern program funded by the NIAID, and involves world-class institutions in the New Jersey-New York metropolitan area, and beyond.

MAVDA combines world-class virologists and academic drug development researchers from CDI, Rockefeller University, Columbia University, Princeton University, Yale University, Rutgers University, University of California San Diego, University of Arizona, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, along with proven antiviral drug developers Merck, the Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute (Tri-I TDI), and Aligos.