Faster access to appropriate medication during future pandemics

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for broad-spectrum antiviral drugs – both to treat current infections and to prevent possible new pathogens with pandemic potential. But how can drugs be made available quickly in the event of future pandemics?

An interdisciplinary research team of bioinformaticians, systems biologists and virologists, including members from Tübingen, has developed a promising approach to answer this question. The approach combines computer-based modelling and experimental testing. To date time-consuming and costly cell culture experiments are initially needed to identify active substances. The new technique accelerates this process. It could thus make an important difference during future pandemics.

Substances with broad antiviral activity found

Using this method, the research team has ‘found various substances that exhibit broad antiviral activity against very different virus families,’ says Michael Schindler, who conducted the infection experiments with his research group at the Institute of Medical Virology and Epidemiology of Viral Diseases at the University Hospital of Tübingen. Based on these findings, a supportive therapy against infections with coronaviruses or flaviviruses (flaviviruses are transmitted to mammals and humans by mosquitoes and ticks and cause serious diseases) could be established relatively quickly.

The press release from the German Centre for Infection Research explains exactly how the pipeline works: https://www.dzif.de/de/antiviral-aktive-substanzen-mit-breitem-wirkspektrum-entdeckt

Link to the original publication in Communications Biology: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-08148-y

Image: Virologist Prof. Schindler and a colleague evaluate data from an infection experiment.© University Hospital Tübingen/Verena Müller