Scientists at Harvard's Wyss Institute have developed a new oral antiviral drug, WYS-694, which effectively blocks multiple coronaviruses, including various strains of SARS-CoV-2.

This broad-spectrum antiviral was created by a multidisciplinary team using AI-enabled modeling, addressing the urgent need for effective treatments as new variants emerge and vaccine access remains uneven.

The project began in spring 2020 with emergency funding from DARPA, highlighting the critical need for rapid drug discovery during health crises.

To identify WYS-694, researchers screened around 10,000 existing drugs, ultimately selecting bemcentinib for further development due to its high binding affinity.

WYS-694 evolved from bemcentinib and is designed to bind to a specific site on the Spike protein of coronaviruses, preventing viral entry into host cells.

Unlike current treatments that target easily mutated surface proteins, WYS-694 focuses on stable, hidden regions of the virus, making it a promising candidate for broad-spectrum antiviral therapy.

The research team hypothesized that targeting these hidden regions of the Spike protein could provide new opportunities for drug binding and viral inhibition.

WYS-694 has demonstrated 12.5 times greater potency than its predecessor and shows oral bioavailability, allowing for convenient once-daily dosing.

These findings suggest that WYS-694 could serve as an effective prophylactic treatment against SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses, paving the way for new antiviral therapies.

Future studies will aim to confirm the direct binding of WYS-694 to its target site and refine computational methods for deeper analysis of its efficacy.

The research findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences on June 12, 2025, marking a significant advancement in antiviral research.

The integrated approach combining AI-driven techniques and experimental validation has implications for drug discovery beyond coronaviruses, potentially aiding in the fight against other viral families such as influenza and HIV.