According to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in January 2026, an outbreak re-emerged in West Bengal, India, and surrounding regions, with confirmed fatalities and nearly 100 close contacts quarantined (Figure 1 ).
Recently, a research team led by Professors Xiao Gengfu and Zhang Leilun from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Professor Shan Chao's team, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, and Dr. Hu Tianwen from Wangshan Wangshui Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., published a significant study titled "The oral nucleoside drug VV116 is a promising candidate for treating Nipah virus infection"( Figure 2) in the international journal Emerging Microbes & Infections. The study confirmed that the oral nucleoside drug VV116 exhibits significant antiviral activity against Nipah virus ( Figure 3), offering new hope for the prevention and treatment of this highly lethal emerging infectious disease. This achievement marks the first demonstration of VV116's therapeutic potential against Nipah virus, which can not only serve as a prophylactic medication for high-risk populations such as healthcare workers and laboratory personnel but also provide a ready-to-use drug option for addressing current and future Nipah virus outbreaks.
Figure 1 Nipah virus, Figure 2 VV116
Figure 3 Pharmacological Mechanism of VV116 Figure 4 Remdesivir Tablets (Mindewei, Code: VV116)
VV116 is not a new drug (Figure 4 ), as it has previously been approved in Uzbekistan and China for the treatment of COVID-19. In this study, the research team found that it, as a prodrug targeting viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), could strongly inhibit the Malaysian and Bangladeshi strains of Nipah virus in vitro.
More critical animal experimental data demonstrated that oral administration of VV116 at a dose of 400 mg per kilogram of body weight could increase the survival rate of golden hamsters to 66.7%, while significantly reducing viral load in target organs such as the lungs, spleen, and brain, providing crucial support for its clinical application.
As a unique advantage of the emergency prevention and control plan, VV116's oral formulation offers the core benefits of convenience and rapid onset of action compared to injectable drugs, which is crucial for large-scale epidemic prevention and control during outbreaks. It can be directly used as prophylactic medication for high-risk populations such as healthcare workers, and also enables timely intervention in the early stages of infection to reduce the rates of severe illness and mortality.
Furthermore, VV116 has established a clinical application foundation for COVID-19 treatment, with its safety and tolerability validated. This implies that it can be more rapidly incorporated into the emergency prevention and control system for the Nipah virus outbreak, eliminating the need to conduct complex safety assessments from scratch.
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