CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society specializing in scientific information solutions, is partnering with research and technology organizations worldwide to tackle the complex challenges presented by COVID-19. In support of calls to action from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and innovation leaders around the globe, CAS just released an open access dataset of chemical compounds with known or potential antiviral activity to support research, data mining and analytics applications.

"I am deeply appreciative of the researchers and healthcare professionals on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19. CAS is fully committed to leveraging our content, technology and expertise in every way possible to support them in overcoming this challenge and saving lives," says Manuel Guzman, CAS President. "This initial dataset, curated by our team of scientists, will enable researchers, as well as emerging technologies such as AI, to make novel connections between previously published chemical research to hopefully accelerate treatments for this disease. We welcome inquiries from project teams that would benefit from contributions of additional data or services to support COVID-19 efforts."

As routine availability of an approved vaccine for COVID-19 is likely more than a year away, much of the short-term therapeutic research focus is on antiviral therapies that can mitigate symptoms and speed recovery. The curated collection of known and potential antiviral compounds CAS has developed provides a pool of candidate molecules that, if proven active against COVID-19, could be repurposed as short-term treatments.