Feline coronavirus drug inhibits the main protease of SARS-CoV-2

Re:Feline coronavirus drug inhibits the main protease of SAR... by ShroudedNight on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @11:34AM (#24342902)

I remember this article about GS-441524[1] cropping up a few months ago:

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/05/remdesiv...

There was some weird cynicism about Remdesivir being some baroque equivalent to GS-441524 (which was supposedly buried) which, if I recall correctly, supposedly enabled extra patent shenanigans.

I'm curious how these (GC373, GC376) relate.

[1] A Remdesivir-related drug sold through shady channels used to treat FIP / Feline infectious peritonitis

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Feline coronavirus drug inhibits the main protease of SAR... by eggsnbacon1 on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @11:43AM (#24343006)

Remdesivir is a prodrug that converts to GS-441524 in the body.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsmedchemlett.0c00316

By most anecdotal accounts GS-441524 is better and possibly safer. And its readily available on the black market for treatment of cat FIP because apparently its much easier to make than Remdesivir.

So yes, probably the only reason Remdesivir exists is patents

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Feline coronavirus drug inhibits the main protease of SAR... by projektfu on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @01:40PM (#24344429)

GC373 and GC376 are protease inhibitors. They inhibit enzymes that cleave proteins, hopefully being specific to their target viruses.

GS-441524 is a nucleoside analog. RNA is made up of nucleosides (actually nucleotides, which have nucleosides as building blocks). It gets incorporated during replication of the viral genome and causes termination of viral replication.

[ Parent | on HN ]