Shanghai, January 24, 2024 - Shanghai Ark Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "ArkBio") announced that the company has published a paper titled "Current state and challenges in respiratory syncytial virus drug discovery" in the internationally renowned antiviral academic research journal "Antiviral Research". This paper systematically reviews the history of the research and development of drugs for RSV and deeply discusses the latest progress of some RSV innovative drugs in clinical trials and those that have been approved. In addition, the article also analyzes the products that have failed or been terminated in the RSV field in history, providing an important reference for future research in this field. The corresponding author of this paper is Zou Gang, and the co-authors are Cao Susan, Gao Zhao, Ye Junmin, and Jim Wu.

RSV is the main cause of lower respiratory tract infections in infants and young children. Among people over 65 years old, the disease burden caused by RSV is equivalent to that of seasonal influenza. Among the various common respiratory virus infections in children, such as influenza, parainfluenza, metapneumovirus, rhinovirus, adenovirus, and coronavirus, RSV is the virus that requires the highest hospitalization rate. Since RSV was first discovered in humans in 1956, despite numerous challenges in the development of vaccines and antiviral drugs, the continuous efforts of the scientific community finally achieved remarkable results in 2023. The article deeply discusses the significant recent progress in this field and the key early scientific discoveries behind these achievements. These scientific discoveries have not only deepened the scientific community's understanding of RSV but also provided a solid theoretical basis for subsequent drug research and development, including the innovation of vaccines, antibodies, and treatment methods.

This paper comprehensively introduces a variety of RSV small molecule drugs currently in the clinical research stage, including Ziresovir, RV521, EDP-938, EDP-323, and two neutralizing antibodies Nirsevimab and Clesrovimab, starting from the life cycle of RSV. The article also analyzes the reasons for the failure of multiple RSV drugs in clinical trials in history. In addition, the paper emphasizes an important challenge in the current RSV drug research and development: that is, human challenge trials cannot fully simulate the virus infection situation in the real world, resulting in limited predictability of research results. Finally, the paper points out that as an RNA virus prone to mutation, RSV therapeutic drugs face potential drug resistance problems. Therefore, future antiviral strategies may need to be innovative - including the development of new anti-RSV drugs targeting more different targets and the implementation of combination therapies to effectively address this issue.

About ArkBio·

ArkBio is a global biotech company focusing on discovery and development of innovative drugs for unmet medical needs, especially in the therapeutic areas of respiratory, infectious and pediatric diseases. Since its inception in 2014, the company has established core technology platforms and built an innovative and highly differentiated R&D pipeline through in-house R&D efforts and external collaborations. This strong R&D pipeline program includes innovative clinical and pre-clinical stage drug candidates with first- or best-in-class potential for global clinical development. As one of the core assets, ziresovir is the first direct-acting RSV antiviral drug that has been developed by ArkBio. 

ArkBio has established strategic partnerships with several global pharmaceutical companies and academic institutes, including Roche, Genentech, the Scripps Research Institute, the Institute of Microbiology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, domestic and international biotechnology companies, as well as venture investment institutions. 

For more information about the company, please visit our website: www.arkbiosciences.com

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