Oxeltis, a CRO specialising in medicinal chemistry and fine organic chemistry for custom synthesis, has announced the selection of the BUNYANTIVIR project under the call for proposals for the 2024 ASTRID Maturation programme.
It is designed to support the development of scientific work carried out under other research support schemes that have received financial support from France’s Ministry of Armed Forces.
BUNYANTIVIR was set up with academic partners: the Biological Macromolecule Architecture and Function Laboratory (AFMB) and the Emerging Viruses Unit (UVE) in Marseille, France, and the Emerging Viral Infections Biology Unit (UBIVE) at Lyon’s Institut Pasteur. ASTRID Maturation was launched by France’s National Research Agency (ANR) in partnership with the Defense Innovation Agency (AID).
With a budget of nearly €800,000 over three years, BUNYANTIVIR aims to progress the preclinical development of a novel antiviral. This involves selecting a series of ‘hit’ compounds whose inhibitory actions have been evaluated in vitro and in cell cultures infected with different viruses. Several high-affinity ligands have shown in vitro efficacy on the target enzyme and infected cells. The ultimate objective is to identify the most relevant drug candidates.
This project is possible thanks to the knowledge, multidisciplinary nature, collaboration and complementary skills of the four partners, who are experts in chemistry, biochemistry, crystallography and virology. Oxeltis is responsible for synthesizing the inhibitors, co‑designed with the AFMB team, and for optimizing the initial hits. Once one or more leads have been selected, Oxeltis will scale up production to supply the quantities needed for in vivo testing in rodents, then in an animal infection model. This initial stage is expected to take place within 18 to 24 months.
“Thanks to its expertise in complex organic chemistry, Oxeltis is proud to be able to collaborate with internationally renowned academic teams in the field of emerging viruses and RNA virus replication mechanisms. This program aims to inhibit an origin recognition replication complex in Bunyaviricetes, and to develop a novel therapeutic approach for certain dangerous viruses in this class affecting humans, such as Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (Nairoviridae) and Lassa fever (Arenaviridae),” said Jean‑Marc Allaire, CEO of Oxeltis.
During the whole project, the partners, thanks to their experience in biochemical and biophysical evaluation, will benefit from hits and leads rational optimization, stability studies, structural biology data, in vitro evaluations in cell models and pharmacokinetics studies; lastly, the potential candidates will be evaluated in vitro.
“This project provides us with the opportunity to target an under-researched viral recognition complex. By leveraging our knowledge in structural biology, particularly X-ray crystallography, we aim to shed light on ligand interactions with viral enzymes, to provide a rational direction for inhibitor optimization. This interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for developing novel antiviral candidates for Bunyaviricetes,” said Karine Alvarez, scientific coordinator for the project at AFMB.
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