infectious disease

Treating Zika Infection: Repurposed Drugs Show Promise

By IRP Staff Blogger

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Reblog via the NIH Director's Blog.

While wearing protective clothing, a researcher in a lab at NCATS dispenses Zika virus into trays for compound screening using procedures that follow strict biosafety standards.

By testing 6,000 FDA-approved drugs and experimental chemical compounds on Zika-infected human cells in the lab, a team that includes IRP scientists has shown that some existing drugs might be repurposed to fight Zika infection and prevent the virus from harming the developing brain.