Teen earns $ 100,000 for inventing the cheaper way to make antiviral drugs

When Adam Kovalčík flew to Ohio for an international science competition, he did not expect to go home with $ 100,000.

The 19-year-old young man from Dulovce, Slovakia, won this sum on Friday because he developed a faster and cheaper way to make an experimental antiviral drug called Galidivir, which targets RNA viruses like COVVI-19, Ebola and Zika.

“This could be a huge step to help prevent some of these RNA viruses,” said Chris Rodee, a chemist and retired patent examiner at Business Insider.

The first studies have shown that the Galidvir can attack RNA viruses, but it has not undergone complete clinical trials. Kovalčík thinks he can encourage additional research by reducing the cost of drug production – $ 75 per gram to around $ 12.50 per gram.

Indeed, he used corn waste to synthesize twice as much medicine in just 10 steps, rather than the 15 stages currently necessary for manufacturing.

Kovalčík even went a little further: he used his method to make a new medication that could also fight RNA viruses.

Kovalčík presented its conclusions to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Columbus, Ohio, this week. The judgment committee, which Rodee chaired, chose Kovalčík for the first prize in the competition: the $ 100,000 award George D. Yancopoulos Innovator.

“I cannot describe this feeling,” Kovalčík told Bi after receiving the award during a lively ceremony on Friday. “I did not expect a huge international competition to be won by someone from a small village in a small European country, so it was only a pure shock.”

Research on ISEF students does not involve the rigorous peer review process that studies come before their publication in scientific journals.

However, Rodee said Kovalčík’s chemistry was “really elegant” and that her presentation to the judges was “in the balloon”.

Corn envelopes in antiviral medicine

Kovalčík’s great innovation saves costs started with corn shells.

Well, it started with Furfuryl alcohol, which comes from corn shells and is relatively cheap compared to other departure points for drugs.

One by one, Kovalčík added chemicals to a Furfuryle alcohol bottle in the laboratory, such as construction blocks adding to the molecule, until he obtained a crucial sugar called Aza-Saccharide. It only took seven stages to get there.

From there, it was only three additional steps to get Galidivir.

“He was able to shorten this whole process,” said Rodee. “He essentially reduced the number of steps by half because he just entered another door.”

The Kovalčík process takes five days. The conventional manufacturing method, he said, takes nine days.

Finally, he also produced another medication. Based on the first computer calculations, Kovalčík thinks that his new molecule could be five times more effective than Galidivir against COVID -19 – binding more strongly to enzymes to kill the virus.

Large drugs of drugs and perfumes

Kovalčík said he had made a preliminary patent on his drug synthesis process.

He also plans to work more with a research group at the University of Slovak Technology in Bratislava, which has so far supported his project.

To be used commercially, the Kovalčík drug manufacturing process is expected to develop. Currently, he said, he finds it difficult to find a way to make more than 200 liters of Galidivir.

He also plans to work with university researchers on the improvement of other drug synthesis processes.

“They actually have many more conceptions and many more drugs to prepare and test,” he said.

However, Kovalčík’s ambitions do not eventually advance the manufacture of drugs. He said that he also wanted to use his chemistry skills and prices to start a business that makes scents that respect the corn environment.

“Since the first time I brought my feet into a laboratory, I knew I wanted to do something related to chemistry,” said Kovalčík.

Now that he has won recognition, he added: “I feel incredible.”