Fig. 5. Bicycles inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication in vivo.

a–f K18 hACE2-mice (N = 4) were given Bicycle (900 mg/kg/day), Remdesivir (50 mg/kg/day) or control subcutaneously for five days, initiated 24 h prior to infection. SARS-CoV-2 (Liverpool/REMRQ0001/2020) was administered intranasally on day 0 at 10⁴ PFU/mouse or a vehicle-only control. On day 4, mice were culled and lungs and nasal turbinates removed. a, b Viral replication was measured by qPCR using probes against viral SgE. Each data point corresponds to one mouse. Data are presented as mean values +/- SEM. The limit of detection was log₁₀(0.7) SgE/µg RNA. c Active viraemia in lungs was measured by plaque assay on Vero TMPRSS2/ACE2 cells of lung homogenate. The limit of detection for plaque assays was log₁₀(0.82) pfu/ml. Data are presented as mean values +/- SEM. Cytokine transcription was measured by qPCR in nasal turbinate (d) or lung homogenate (e, f) using a panel of probe sequences, as indicated, and expressed as a fold-change over K18 hACE2-mice controls. g Syrian hamsters (N = 6) were given Bicycle or vehicle control subcutaneously three times daily at the indicated doses for five days. SARS-CoV-2 (BetaCoV/Munich/BavPat1/2020) was administered intranasally on day 2 at 10² TCID₅₀/mouse. On day 5, mice were culled and viraemia measured in lung homogenate by cytopathic assay on Vero E6 cells. The limit of detection ranged between 1.2 to 1.4 log10 (TCID50/g). Data are presented as mean values +/- SEM. For all data, non-parametric one-sided ANOVA was used for statistical analysis and only significant differences indicated. Data with a value of zero was set to the limit of detection for statistical purposes. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.