Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, this disease has spread rapidly around the globe. Considering the potential threat of a pandemic, scientists and physicians have been racing to understand this new virus and the pathophysiology of this disease to uncover possible treatment regimens and discover effective therapeutic agents and vaccines. To support the current research and development, CAS has produced a special report to provide an overview of published scientific information with an emphasis on patents in the CAS content collection. It highlights antiviral strategies involving small molecules and biologics targeting complex molecular interactions involved in coronavirus infection and replication. The drug-repurposing effort documented herein focuses primarily on agents known to be effective against other RNA viruses including SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. The patent analysis of coronavirus-related biologics includes therapeutic antibodies, cytokines, and nucleic acid-based therapies targeting virus gene expression as well as various types of vaccines. More than 500 patents disclose methodologies of these four biologics with the potential for treating and preventing coronavirus infections, which may be applicable to COVID-19. The information included in this report provides a strong intellectual groundwork for the ongoing development of therapeutic agents and vaccines.

An ongoing theme of the COVID-19 pandemic is the need for widespread availability of accurate and efficient diagnostic testing for detection of SARS-CoV-2 and antiviral antibodies in infected individuals. This report describes various assay techniques and tests for COVID-19 diagnosis. Most tests for early detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA rely on the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, but isothermal nucleic acid amplification assays, including transcription-mediated amplification and CRISPR-based methodologies, are promising alternatives. Identification of individuals who have developed antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus requires serological tests, including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and lateral flow immunoassay. This report also provides an overview of current development in COVID-19 diagnostic techniques and products to facilitate future improvement and innovation.

This report examines various vaccine platforms including inactivated vaccines, protein-based vaccines, viral vector vaccines, and nucleic acid (DNA or mRNA) vaccines, and their ways of producing immunogens in cells.

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The enzyme GTP:α‐d‐mannose‐1‐phosphate guanylyltransferase from porcine thyroid tissue has been purified 69 900‐fold on columns of blue‐Sepharose, DEAE‐Sepharose, phenyl‐Sepharose and agarose‐GTP affinity materials. Although it exhibits a tendency to aggregate, the enzyme travelled, upon sucrose velocity sedimentation, as a single oligomer with a molecular mass of 412 kDa. Michaelis constants were determined to be 1.0 μM, 1.0 mM, 3.5 μM and 0.4 μM for GDP‐α‐d‐mannose, pyrophosphate, GTP and mannose‐1‐phosphate, respectively. The enzyme appears to be specific for the mannose moiety but will accept an inosine replacement for guanine and a deoxyribose replacement for ribose in GTP.