Scientists from the Ural State Medical University (USMU), together with colleagues from the Ural Federal University (UrFU), won a grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the State Natural Science Foundation of China to create new drugs for Coronavirus based on Triazavirin. In total, 17 applications were submitted for the competition, and only five of them received support.

A team of scientists will work under the guidance of Valery Charushin, a professor at the Department of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry of the Ural Federal University, director of the Institute of Organic Synthesis named after. I. Ya. Postovsky of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and academicians of the Harbin Medical University Dr. Baofeng Yang and Weijie Du.

Ural Medical University is represented by Professor of the Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology Leonid Larionov and Head of the Department of Medical Biology and Genetics Oleg Makeev. «The full name of the project is «Target-based design and screening of promising drug candidates for a number of azoloazines and other small molecules against SARS-CoV-2 (and other viral infections), including studies on optimization of the structure, assessment of bioactivity / safety and study of the mechanism of action»

The Ural State Medical University has been cooperating for several years with colleagues from China within the framework of the Russian-Chinese Association of Medical Universities (RKAMU), Mikhail Flyagin, Vice-Rector of USMU for Perspective Development and International Relations noted. Since July 2020, the university has been working on clinical trials of traditional Chinese medicine and a number of antiviral drugs in terms of their effectiveness in combating COVID-19 with a team of Chinese scientists headed by Academician, President of Harbin Medical University Yang Baofeng.

«Within the framework of a joint Russian-Chinese grant, a team of USMU scientists will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the toxicity of synthesized candidate substances for human cell culture models, as well as conduct research on the therapeutic efficacy of various doses of Triazavirin against COVID-19 in experiments with people of different age groups, various forms of severity of the disease and the degree of comorbidity» Mikhail Flyagin said.

«The grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the State Natural Science Foundation of China is designed for two years, it will give a large team of specialists the opportunity to offer new drugs, new substances that will be used for viral infections, including COVID-19. As part of the grant, we will develop and test new drugs that will find practical application. We see great prospects in the development of this alliance. It is very important that the Chinese side supported this project. For us, this is a joint study, which will certainly give positive results» Olga Kovtun, rector of USMU noted.