Light-driven chemistry method could create antiviral compound libraries 10 to 100 times larger within weeks

As the world faces new and often untreatable viral threats, Simon Fraser University researchers have found a way to cut years off the time it takes to discover antiviral drugs.

The new research enables scientists to quickly create large libraries of nucleoside analogs (NAs), compounds that mimic the building blocks of DNA and RNA and are widely used to treat cancer and viral infections such as HIV and hepatitis. ...