The Janssen pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) announced in collaboration with the KU Leuven Rega Institute and the KU Leuven Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3), the publication of new preclinical data in the journal Nature showing that an early-stage compound with a novel mechanism of action could potentially treat all serotypes of dengue fever and provide a period of protection against acquiring the dengue virus. Janssen is now moving its dengue program into clinical development.   

Data from the early-stage study suggest that an antiviral compound prevents the interaction between two viral proteins (NS3 and NS4B) that play an important role in the replication process of a virus, thereby stopping the ability of the virus to reproduce. This represents an entirely novel mechanism of antiviral action. The compound showed efficacy against dengue infection in a prophylactic setting and rapid and significant reduction in viral load at peak viremia in a therapeutic model.

"This scientific breakthrough shows tremendous potential to treat and prevent all four dengue serotypes and help transform the world's fight against this significant and growing public health threat," said Paul Stoffels, M.D., Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee and Chief Scientific Officer, Johnson & Johnson. "We are hopeful that this early-stage science can ultimately translate into a meaningful difference for at-risk communities. We look forward to working with our collaborators to accelerate clinical development."

The Janssen dengue compound discovery program started in 2007. There are no therapeutics available to treat dengue, and research & development (R&D) has proven challenging, in part because of the existence of multiple dengue serotypes, each of which can cause reinfection and co-circulate in the same regions.