Quercus Molecular Design (QMD), a University of Connecticut (UConn) related startup company, has received a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) award in the amount of US$256,000 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The one-year grant focuses on the development of multi-targeting inhibitors that block two or more essential HSV (Herpes Simplex Virus) proteins used in reproduction of the virus.
This approach is expected to lead to the production of antiviral therapeutics that are more potent and less susceptible to the development of mutation-based drug resistance. Currently, patients are often treated with a “cocktail” of drugs against different targets of a disease to avoid resistance. This treatment method increases the risk of negative side effects that patients might experience.
According to QMD’s chief chemistry officer and UConn professor of medicinal chemistry, Dennis Wright PhD, developing single drugs capable of multi-targeting represents a huge potential in the treatment of infectious disease.