Promising Antiviral Drug Candidate for RSV—Licensing Opportunity

Promising Antiviral Drug Candidate for RSV

Licensing Opportunity

This is the photomicrographic detection of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) using indirect immunofluorescence technique. Credit: CDC

Acute respiratory infections during early childhood constitute a major human health burden. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common viral cause of severe acute pediatric respiratory infections worldwide. NIAID researchers have found that rostafuroxin, a broadly antiviral small chemical molecule, substantially inhibits RSV infection. This was demonstrated in A549 cells, a widely used human respiratory epithelial cell line, and in primary human airway epithelial cells derived from a healthy human.

Rostafuroxin is a promising antiviral drug candidate for RSV and possibly other viruses that use the same pathway for host cell entry. Read more about this exciting licensing opportunity: https://www.ott.nih.gov/technology/e-202-2018.