About the Study

Journal: Communications Biology, an open-access journal from Nature Portfolio

Title: Combination of antiviral drugs inhibits SARS-CoV2 polymerase and exonuclease and demonstrates COVID-19 therapeutic potential in viral cell culture

Authors: Xuanting Wang1,2,11, Carolina Q. Sacramento3,4,11, Steffen Jockusch1,5,11, Otavio Augusto Chaves3,4, Chuanjuan Tao1,2, Natalia Fintelman-Rodrigues3,4, Minchen Chien1,2, Jairo R. Temerozo6,7, Xiaoxu Li1,2, Shiv Kumar1,2, Wei Xie8, Dinshaw J. Patel8, Cindy Meyer9, Aitor Garzia9, Thomas Tuschl9, Patricia T. Bozza3, James J. Russo1,2, Thiago Moreno L. Souza3,4 & Jingyue Ju1,2,10

1. Center for Genome Technology and Biomolecular Engineering, Columbia University
2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University
3. Laboratory of Immunopharmacology, Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro
4. National Institute for Science and Technology for Innovation on Diseases of Neglected Population (INCT/IDN), Center for Technological Development in Health (CDTS), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro
5. Department of Chemistry, Columbia University
6. Laboratory on Thymus Research, Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro
7. National Institute for Science and Technology on Neuroimmunomodulation (INCT/NIM), Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro
8. Laboratory of Structural Biology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
9. Laboratory of RNA Molecular Biology, Rockefeller University
10. Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Columbia University

This work was supported by the Jack Ma Foundation, a gift from Columbia Engineering Member of the Board of Visitors Dr. Bing Zhao, and Fast Grants (to Jingyue Ju), the Maloris Foundation and the Memorial Sloan- Kettering Core Grant (P30CA008748) (to Dinshaw J. Patel), a grant from The JPB Foundation to Rockefeller University (to Thomas Tuschl). Funding was also provided by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq, 441019/2020-0, 307162/2017-6), Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ, E-26/210.182/2020, E-26/201.067/2021, E-26/210.112/2020) and Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Ni vel Superior -Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001 (to Thiago Moreno L. Souza and Patricia T. Bozza). CNPq, CAPES and FAPERJ also support the National Institutes of Science and Tech-nology Program (INCT-IDPN, 465313/2014-0). Oswaldo Cruz Foundation/FIOCRUZ supports this study under the auspices of the Inova Program (B3-Bovespa funding, VGPDI-032-ARVC-20) (to Thiago Moreno L. Souza).

COI: The authors declare no competing interests.