Dietary Supplement for COVID-19 Prevention and Treatment

Background

With hundreds of thousands of new cases being reported every day, over a year after its onset, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is still making its presence felt worldwide. Although vaccines are available, alternative treatments are being explored for people who can not or do not want to be vaccinated. The drawbacks of the current anti‑viral drug used to treat COVID‑19 are that it requires intravenous delivery and that it is only administered to hospitalized patients. Therefore, there is a need for a remedy that is very safe and effective so that it can be used broadly to prevent and treat multiple respiratory infections. Many are looking towards nutritional supplements to address this need.

Technology Overview

Researchers at NC State University’s Department of Plant and Microbial Biology screened plant flavonoids for their ability to bind to and inhibit the main protease (Mpro) of SARS-Cov-2. Using docking simulations, they found that 12 flavonoid compounds that could potentially bind to Mpro and inhibit its activity. These predicted sites matched those of antiviral control compounds, ebselen and cinanserin. The researchers then performed in vitro assays in which the activity of Mpro was measured in the presence of these flavonoids and extracts from green tea, muscadine and venifera grapes, cacao, and dark chocolate (see ) and different concentrations of the specific compounds predicted to bind Mpro. They found these extracts and specific flavonoids were highly effective at reducing the activity of Mpro, which in turn can prevent the action of SARS‑Cov2. The researchers also developed methods to produce these specific flavonoids to create potent supplements.

For more information, please click here to view the publication titled “Docking Characterization and in vitro Inhibitory Activity of Flavan-3-ols and Dimeric Proanthocyanidins Against the Main Protease Activity of SARS-Cov-2”.

Benefits

• Anti‑viral treatment derived from plants
• Safe and effective
• Oral delivery
• Has the potential to prevent and mitigate viral infections including COVID‑19

Applications

The identified compounds can be extracted from plants or synthesized to create dietary supplements. Tablets and liquid products with these identified nutritional flavonoids can be developed to produce different supplements. These supplements can be used for preventing and treating SARS‑CoV-2, SARS, and MERS infection, flu coronavirus infections, other viral infections.

Opportunity

NC State is seeking an industry partner to license and commercialize this technology.