Patent ID: 8906872

Claim:
A method of inhibiting replication of a Coronavirus in a mammalian host cell, comprising administering to the infected mammalian host cells, a virus-inhibitory amount of an oligonucleotide analog coumpound characterized by: (i) a nuclease-resistant backbone, (ii) capable of uptake by mammalian host cells, (iii) containing between 12-40 nucleotide bases, and (iv) having a targeting sequence of at least 12 subunits that is complementary to a region associated with stem-loop secondary structure within the 5′-terminal end 40 bases of the positive sense RNA strand of the Coronavirus , and by said administering, forming within the infected mammalian host cell, a heteroduplex structure (i) composed of the positive-sense RNA strand of the Coronavirus and the oligonucleotide analog compound, and (ii) characterized by a Tm of dissociation of at least 45° C. and disruption of a stem-loop secondary structure.