Over three years, a contribution of 1.5 million euros to support research into antiviral drugs. The Same Foundation, set up by the multinational agricultural mechanization Sdf, based in Treviglio, has decided to renew its support for the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, financing a new research project for the development of drugs against Covid-19 that are able to counteract this and future pandemics also in less developed countries.
In detail, the three-year project “Identification of new inhibitors of the main SARS CoV2 protease as antiviral drugs against Covid-19 and future pandemics” was created with the aim of developing an antiviral drug, with effective and safe preclinical properties, which interferes with function of the viral enzyme responsible for the replication of different coronaviruses.
The research team will be led by Professor Luca Guidotti of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, in collaboration with the teams of Professor Vincenzo Summa of the University of Naples and Professor Raffaele De Francesco of the University of Milan.
Over the past two years, the international scientific community has stepped up its efforts to identify preventative measures and treatments against Covid-19. Following the administration of vaccines, the scientific community is now focusing on research for the development of antiviral therapies, which can be taken orally, which are safe and effective against the virus and its variants and which can be stored at room temperature.
«The Same Foundation – comments the president Francesco Carozza – has a consolidated and ongoing relationship with the San Raffaele Hospital in which we have contributed to scientific research activities on various projects. Now the goal, in line with the spirit of the Foundation, is to provide a concrete contribution in order to facilitate the study of a solution capable of improving the current scenario, especially in underdeveloped countries where, for economic and logistical reasons, it is it will remain difficult to get vaccines ».