On Oct. 11, 2021, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis announced they had developed a chemical compound that interferes with a key feature of many viruses that allows the viruses to invade human cells.

The compound, called MM3122, was studied in cells and mice and holds promise as a new way to prevent infection or reduce the severity of COVID-19 if given early in the course of an infection, according to the researchers. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.