A research group led by Professor Katsumi Maenaka (Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hokkaido University), Professor Takasuke Fukuhara (Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University), and Associate Professor Hideo Fukuhara (International Research Institute for Zoonosis Control, Hokkaido University) has successfully designed antibody drugs effective against a wide range of coronavirus strains using molecular simulations.

RNA viruses such as influenza viruses and coronaviruses are known to have extremely rapid mutation rates, allowing them to escape from pharmaceutical targets. This research showed that with the development of computer-based molecular simulation technology, it is possible to surpass these viruses’ extremely rapid mutation rate and rapidly create new antibody drugs. Please see the page below for details.