Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Singapore Polytechnic announced that they have found a natural compound from a plant that is able to interdict the reproduction and spreading of coronavirus of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Zhu Weiliang, principal investigator of the CAS Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, said Tuesday that his research team, with aid of high-performance computers, filtered 220 compounds and ascertained a few that could combine a protease, scientifically known as 3CL-PRO, in the SARS coronavirus and stop its function.

The SARS coronavirus is spread via the protease. Therefore, Zhu said, impotence of the protease would stop the virus from spreading.

"The newly-found compound could firmly occupy the molecular slot of the protease in the SARS coronavirus," said Zhu.

Computer simulation proved that the compound is effective in combining itself with the coronavirus protease, Zhu said.

Though it has not been tried on humans, the simulation also showed that the compound, extracted from an edible plant, has few side effects, the researcher said.

The CAS institute and Singapore Polytechnic are applying for chemical patents in China and developed countries in the world. The researchers did not release the name of the compound while the patent application is in the pipeline.

Jiang Hualiang, vice director of the CAS institute, estimated that further drug development and clinical tests will be underway soon.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2005)