Therapies to treat COVID-19
August 6, 2020
Invention Summary
Drug candidates to treat COVID-19 and a high throughput drug screening platform.
Technology Overview
The current COVID-19 pandemic has affected over 6 million people worldwide, has resulted in nearly 400,000 deaths, and is having a profound effect on the US and global economy. At present, no known therapies exist to prevent or treat COVID-19. Our understanding of the disease and the search for drug candidates are limited by the lack of appropriate disease models for drug screening. The COVID-19 disease is caused by a novel coronavirus SARS-Cov-2, which requires ACE2 receptors expressed in target tissues in order to enter the cells. The pulmonary system is the most vulnerable target organ for COVID-19. The invention identifies 4 FDA-approved generic compounds as inhibitory to viral entry in lung organoids and describes their novel use against COVID-19. This invention also describes the novel high throughput drug screening platform for COVID-19 on the basis of human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived lung organoids. hPSC-derived lung organoids express ACE2, are permissive to SARS-Cov-2 infection, and phenocopy COVID-19 disease when infected with SARS-Cov-2.
Potential Applications
- Novel use of FDA-approved generic drugs to treat COVID-19.
- Novel disease model and high throughput drug screening platform for COVID-19 drug candidates.
Advantages
- Human lung organoids are more physiologically relevant for developing and screening COVID-19 therapeutics than currently used models including cell cultures and transgenic animals.
Publications
- Han, Y et al. Identification of Candidate COVID-19 Therapeutics using hPSC-derived Lung Organoids. bioRxiv [Preprint]. May 5, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.05.079095.
Licensing Contact
Dan-Oscar Antson
(646) 962-7042
da429@cornell.edu
Inventors
- Shuibing Chen
- Todd Evans
- Xiaochua Duan
- Yuling Han
- Liuliu Yang
- Lewis C. Cantley
- Huanhuan Joyce Chen
- Robert Schwartz
- Tomer Yaron
Patents
- Filed