On Apr. 8, 2020, Vanda Pharmaceuticals and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) announced a research partnership focused on the investigation of small molecules with the potential to treat COVID-19. The collaboration will include the use of a high-throughput screening assay to identify small molecules that may prevent cathepsin-L cleavage of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) glycoproteins that are required for viral processing in the host cell.