A U.S. Patent Granted to Dr. Abeer Al-Masri from the College of Medicine for Inventing a New Therapeutic Compound that Inhibits “CCR5”.

Professor Abeer bint Abdulmuti Al-Masri, a faculty member at the College of Medicine, Department of Physiology, along with the participating research team led by Professor Fouad Amin, and in collaboration with the Drug Manufacturing and Translational Research Laboratory at the College of Medicine at the University of Alabama in the United States, has recently obtained a U.S. patent for a new therapeutic compound titled (CCR5 Inhibitor).

The compound works by inhibiting the Chemokine Receptor Type 5 (CCR5), a receptor that plays a pivotal role in regulating immune responses. It also has multiple functions in the brain, including neural plasticity and involvement in neurological and psychological disorders. In addition, CCR5 has a dual role in the cardiovascular system—contributing to inflammation and vascular damage while also aiding in endothelial cell repair. The receptor is also associated with several inflammatory diseases, asthma, and certain types of cancer.

The results further demonstrated that the compound possesses high efficacy, superior properties compared to known inhibitors, and lower manufacturing costs, making it a promising candidate for multiple therapeutic fields, including HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, neuroinflammation, stroke, psychological disorders, and some types of cancer.

This achievement comes after a series of laboratory studies and experiments that continued for several months, through which the team succeeded in developing a new therapeutic compound. This discovery represents a distinguished scientific accomplishment, offering not only an innovative and effective synthesis method, but also enhancing prospects for new drug development and supporting the ecosystem of scientific research and medical innovation.