Repurposing existing drugs to fight new COVID-19 variants

Finding new ways to treat the novel coronavirus and its ever-changing variants has been a challenge for researchers, especially when the traditional drug development and discovery process can take years. A Michigan State University researcher and his team are taking a hi-tech approach to determine whether drugs already on the market can pull double duty in treating new COVID variants. "The COVID-19 virus is a challenge because it continues to evolve," said Bin Chen, an associate professor in the College of Human Medicine. "By using artificial intelligence and really large data sets, we can repurpose old drugs for new uses." Chen built an international team of researchers with expertise on topics ranging from biology to computer science to tackle this challenge.