This article is about the antiviral drug. For the light aircraft, see
Ekolot JK-05L Junior
.
JK-05
is a broad-spectrum
antiviral drug
developed by the
Chinese
company Sihuan Pharmaceutical along with the Chinese
Academy of Military Medical Sciences
. It is reported to act as an inhibitor of the viral enzyme
RNA polymerase
which is essential for viral replication. In tests on mice, JK-05 was claimed to show efficacy against a range of
RNA viruses
, including
influenza
,
Ebola virus
and
yellow fever
, as well as several
arenaviruses
and
bunyaviruses
. The
chemical structure
of JK-05 has not been disclosed as of October 2014, but it is claimed to be a
small molecule
drug with a comparatively simple structure, which should be readily amenable to synthesis scale-up for mass production if testing is successful. The drug is however admitted to be similar to the Japanese anti-influenza drug
favipiravir
, developed by
Fujifilm
Holdings Corp, which has been used effectively to treat patients with Ebola.
[1]
In addition, WHO committee members mentioned that the drug is a copy product of favipiravir, because patents of favipiravir were already registered in 2006 in China.
[2]
The drug has been given preliminary approval by the Chinese authorities to be available for Chinese health workers involved in combating the
2014 West African Ebola outbreak
, or if Ebola were to spread into mainland China.
[3]
[1]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
Several other Chinese developed antiviral drugs with anti-Ebola activity have also been disclosed,
[8]
but have not progressed so far through development as JK-05.
[
citation needed
]
↑
Wu W, Liu S (October 2014). "[Research progress of prevention and treatment of Ebola virus infection]".
Nan Fang Yi Ke da Xue Xue Bao = Journal of Southern Medical University
(in Chinese).
34
(10): 1519–22.
PMID
25345954
.