Norovirus

Norovirus is a worldwide public health problem responsible for close to 90% of epidemic, non-bacterial outbreaks of gastroenteritis around the world. 

Norovirus is a very common and highly contagious virus that causes symptoms of acute gastroenteritis including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea. Other symptoms include fatigue, fever and dehydration. Noroviruses are a major cause of gastrointestinal illness in closed and crowded environments, having become notorious for their common occurrence in hospitals, nursing homes, childcare facilities and cruise ships.

Norovirus is the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis, annually causing an estimated 685 million cases worldwide. About 200 million cases are seen among children under 5 years old, leading to an estimated 50,000 child deaths every year, mostly in developing countries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

There is currently no effective treatment or effective vaccine for norovirus, and the ability to curtail outbreaks is limited. Few companies, if any, are developing antiviral treatments for this disease. 

By targeting viral replication enzymes and protease, we believe it is possible to develop an effective treatment for all genogroups of norovirus. Also, because of the significant unmet medical need and the possibility of chronic norovirus infection in immunocompromised individuals, new antiviral therapeutic approaches may warrant an accelerated path to market.

We are developing inhibitors of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and protease of norovirus. These enzymes are essential to viral replication and are highly conserved between all noroviral genogroups. Therefore, an inhibitor of this enzyme might be an effective therapeutic treatment or short-term prophylactic agent when administered during a cruise or nursing home stay, for example. We have developed x-ray quality norovirus polymerase and protease crystals and have identified promising inhibitors. We are implementing the platform and approaches that have proven successful in our other antiviral programs.

To learn more about norovirus, please visit the information page at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Reference: https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/

Noro Polymerase and Protease Inhibitors

We continue to identify and develop non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitors using our proprietary structure-based drug design technology platform. We expect to nominate a preclinical lead in the first half of 2023.