Enteroviruses are a large group of viruses that can cause a wide range of illnesses—from the common cold to serious conditions like meningitis, polio, and even type 1 diabetes.
There are more than 100 known types of enteroviruses, and they infect millions of people around the world each year.
Yet, despite their widespread impact, there is still no general treatment or vaccine to fight them all.
One reason may be that most people recover from enteroviruses without needing medication. However, these viruses can sometimes lead to serious illness, especially in children.
That’s why researchers have been working hard to find a treatment that can stop multiple types of enteroviruses—not just one.
Scientists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), along with researchers across Europe, have now made a breakthrough.
They’ve discovered a combination of drugs that can stop enteroviruses from multiplying in human cells.
When viruses infect a person, they spread by making copies of themselves inside our cells. By targeting this replication process, the researchers believe they’ve found a way to stop the infection in its tracks.
This promising combination includes three drugs: pleconaril, AG7404, and mindeudesivir. These medications are already known in the medical world and have each been tested individually in humans before.
Even better, they can all be taken as a pill, which makes future treatment easier for patients.
Lab tests using human cells and mini-organs (tiny models that mimic real organs) showed that the drug mix worked well to stop the viruses. The treatment didn’t cause harmful effects on important systems either.
When tested on mini-organs that resemble the pancreas and heart, the combination didn’t affect insulin levels or heart rate—good news for people with diabetes or heart concerns.
The researchers first tested 12 different drug options, both alone and in different combinations, to see what worked best.
They found that a mix of pleconaril, rupintrivir, and remdesivir was very effective, but not practical since those drugs can’t be combined into a single pill. By replacing two of the drugs with AG7404 and mindeudesivir, they created a new combination that was just as effective—and much easier to use.
While these early results are exciting, more research is still needed. The next steps involve testing the drug mix on a variety of enteroviruses in the lab and eventually running clinical trials with real patients.
If all goes well, this could lead to the first broad treatment for a family of viruses that affects millions worldwide.
