VALDOSTA – Campuses across the country have halted the field work of many researchers, but Valdosta State University has allowed Dr. Thomas Manning and his research team to carry on, leading to potentially life-changing results.

Manning, professor of chemistry, has been working on drug development for two decades.

Originally, the focus was on cancer drugs then developed into antibiotics with an emphasis on tuberculosis. While TB may not be a huge issue to the United States, India alone has roughly 500 million cases.

“TB slowly kills by liquifying the lungs,” Manning said. “We started working with developing an antibiotic for drug-resistant TB. We started looking at the lungs and asked what is the best way to get into the lungs.”

Similarly, the team had looked into various forms of cancer, including lung, as many cancer drugs are hard and have severe side effects for the patient. They hoped to lower the dose significantly.

Success in this area led to the team having its work tested in India for the treatment of TB.

Then, COVID-19 happened.

“When this viral infection popped up, we had been working with an antiviral that came out of the ocean,” Manning said.

They adjusted some of the TB work for COVID-19 and looked at some of the ways of putting drugs into the lungs efficiently.

Their research has shown the antiviral could be helpful in treating COVID-19.

An article written from this research by Manning, Jenu Thomas-Richardson, Matthew Cowan and Torien Beard was recently featured in the scientific journal “Drug Discovery Today.”

Richardson said she is proud to be part of something making a difference.

“Everyone is affected by this horrible virus,” Manning said. “Making a difference and being able to actually do something about it makes me and all my research partners feel amazing.”

As for getting the antiviral to people, Manning has submitted two applications to the National Institutes of Health. Their work will be facing competition from “big pharma.”

“I say we are definitely the underdogs,” Manning said. “It’s interesting to see which drugs move through and which get halted.”

While two were submitted, Manning feels their more “economical” option will be the one to get attention.

What was previously a long waiting game, the NIH has now been responding to people within days.

“We will see how it plays out over the next two weeks,” Manning said. 

Desiree Carver is a reporter at the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be reached at (229) 244-3400 ext. 1215.