Most recently, a new type of Coronavirus has been identified to be directly responsible for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( SARS ), posing the most threat to human health since the discovery of HIV. Similar to HIV and Influenza viruses, SARS virus belongs to RNA virus and can mutate rapidly and be easily contracted. Looking back, the flu epidemic at the beginning of twentieth century caused the death of about 20-40 million people in the world, whereas historically Southern China has been the origin of many types of flu. Accompanying faster pace of life, more frequent international activities and greater population mobility, other new virus that can spread even faster than SARS virus, such as flu virus H4N6, have surfaced.
　　Collaborating with world-famous virology and immunology academic labs and biopharmaceutical companies, Shanghai Genomics is building a new drug discovery system targeting epidemic-causing viruses. Such system includes the development of preventive and therapeutic drugs and elucidation of molecular mechanisms for viral disease. To develop both near-term offerings and a long-term drug R&D platform, we focus our effort in these areas: i) to develop vaccines targeting Spike protein and Nucleocapsid protein of SARS; ii) to develop SARS treatment based on the newly discovered FL ligand which can boost the immune response by activating dendritic cells; iii) to explore F351, an anti-fibrosis small molecule compound already in animal study phase, on inhibiting pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis of late-stage SARS patients; and iv) to discover new drug target genes for SARS and other Influenza viruses. The establishment of such antiviral drug discovery platform will enable us to efficiently fight against SARS and other new types of virus with higher infectivity and mortality in the future.