An inroad to bunyaviruses; plus a gene therapy for tyrosinemia and more

Shionogi & Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4507) and collaborators screened a cap-dependent endonuclease inhibitor library and identified compounds that decreased blood viral load, suppressed thrombocytopenia and hepatic dysfunction, and improved survival rates in mice infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). The compounds, described in PNAS, were 100 to 1,000 times more active in vitro than ribavirin against bunyaviruses, including LCMV, Lassa virus and Junin virus. There are currently no approved treatments for bunyaviruses; ribavirin is used off-label to treat them.

Mayo Clinic scientists including  Castle Creek Biosciences Inc. CSO Joseph Lillegard and VP of preclinical development Robert Kaiser revealed in Nature Communications a liver-directed lentiviral vector gene therapy carrying the human FAH transgene provided stable expression of FAH in pigs with hereditary tyrosinemia type I...