REDAC: REpositioned Drugs Against COVID-19

REDAC: REpositioned Drugs Against COVID-19 is led by Prof. Dr Vittorio Limongelli from the University of Lugano, Switzerland. His research group is planning to exploit their decade-long experience in drug design to target some of the essential molecular players involved in the pathology of the coronavirus. Among them are the viral proteins that allow the virus to enter human cells and replicate there: Main Protease (Mpro) and RNA-dependant RNA polymerase (RdRp), and the human host proteins Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) and Mitochondrial Assembly 1 (MAS1). Propelled by the ambition to find fast and efficient treatment, the scientists will reposition market-approved drugs to provide easily accessible tools for the treatment of COVID-19 in multiple stages of the infection. According to them, the chosen targets cover all the phases of SARS-CoV-2 lifespan, from entry into the host cell (ACE2) to assembly of the replication machinery (Mpro), and reproduction of the viral genome (RdRp). Drug repositioning campaigns typically lead to discovering compounds with weak activity towards the novel target. Therefore, the aim is to identify multi-target repositioned drugs towards more than one investigated goal. This knowledge will favour the rapid achievement of a clinical protocol. It will be suitable for mitigation of the infection, by slowing down the virus reproduction in the early phase and avoiding it reaching the later lethal phases. According to the team, any data and scientific knowledge arising from the planned investigation could help in the development of novel drugs against SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses. PRACE awarded the project 350 000 node hours on Piz Daint hosted by CSCS, Switzerland.