The RdRp Thumb-1 Pocket is a Conserved Target for Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Development

The RdRp Thumb-1 pocket is a conserved allosteric site across ssRNA viruses, enabling broad-spectrum antiviral development with MDL-001 showing activity against multiple viruses.

• Why it matters: Targeting conserved viral structures is crucial for developing effective broad-spectrum antivirals, addressing the challenge posed by poorly conserved allosteric sites in existing drugs.
• What they did: Researchers used structural analysis and sequence alignments to demonstrate conservation of the Thumb-1 pocket across ssRNA viruses and validated MDL-001 as a broad-spectrum inhibitor through in vitro experiments.
• The result: MDL-001 inhibits both HCV and SARS-CoV-2 by targeting the conserved Thumb-1 site, paving the way for new antiviral therapies effective against multiple viral families.