VOA News examines new drug compound that shows broad-based efficacy in lab tests

VOA News looks at a new drug compound developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that they say has so far "killed every virus it's been tested on in the laboratory." "The drug - known by the acronym DRACO - works by chemically targeting viral-infected cells and prompting them to self-destruct, eliminating the disease in the process," VOA writes.

Todd Rider, a senior scientist at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, "says DRACO has been successfully tested in petri dishes against 15 viruses that cause everything from the sniffles to life-threatening diseases" and "there are many more viruses he wants to test DRACO on, including the virus that causes AIDS," according to the news service. "Rider predicts it could be another decade before DRACO is ready for general use," VOA writes (Berman, 8/17).