# Medicinal Chemistry Core

> **NIH NIH U19** · HACKENSACK UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · $4,033,569

## Abstract

Abstract
The Medicinal Chemistry Core (MCC; Core 4) has been formed to address the urgent need for novel antiviral
agents. The MCC will work seamlessly with the Project Teams and other Cores to drive the time- and cost-
efficient discovery and development of novel optimized lead compounds to target viral infections of global
health significance. Critical to its mission is its competence in industrial and academic medicinal chemistry,
which is highlighted by successful evolutions of hit to lead to approved drug. The MCC will aid in the
confirmation of hits discovered through structure-based design or experimental screens, evolve these to early
and then optimized leads following a defined workflow with quantitative metrics for molecules at each stage in
the process. The MCC will collaborate on projects focused on the discovery and development of 1) inhibitors of
SARS-CoV-2 RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) (Nsp12/7/8) and exonuclease (ExoN) (Nsp14/10), 2)
viral protease inhibitors from a high-throughput yeast-based screen, and 3) syn-BNP peptides as antiviral
agents.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10513918
- **Project number:** 1U19AI171401-01
- **Recipient organization:** HACKENSACK UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** JAMES M BALKOVEC
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $4,033,569
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-05-16 → 2026-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10513918

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10513918, Medicinal Chemistry Core (1U19AI171401-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10513918. Licensed CC0.

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