US EditionA 19-year-old Won $100,000 for Inventing a Cheaper, Faster Way to Make Antiviral Drugs Out of Corn Husks
- Adam Kovalík, a 19-year-old from Dulovce, Slovakia, earned $100,000 at the Regeneron ISEF in Ohio on Friday for creating a faster and more affordable method to manufacture an experimental antiviral medication.
- He developed this method to reduce the production cost of galidesivir, an experimental antiviral for RNA viruses like COVID-19, from $75 to about $12.50 per gram.
- Kovalík's process uses corn husk waste and shortens manufacturing time from nine to five days, and he has filed a preliminary patent on the synthesis method.
- Judges commended his work as exceptionally thorough and sophisticated, awarding him the competition’s highest distinction, the George D. Yancopoulos Innovator Award accompanied by a $100,000 prize.
- Kovalík intends to collaborate further with a Slovak research team to enhance the process and aims to invest his award funds into launching a business that produces eco-friendly perfumes derived from corn byproducts.
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A 19-year-old Won $100,000 for Inventing a Cheaper, Faster Way to Make Antiviral Drugs Out of Corn Husks
Self-described as merely “someone from a small village in a small European country” young Adam Kovalčík won the top prize in America’s most prestigious science fair with his invention of a quicker, cheaper method of making a popular antiviral drug out of corn husk. Reducing the cost per gram from $75.00 to just $12.00, and […] The post A 19-year-old Won $100,000 for Inventing a Cheaper, Faster Way to Make Antiviral Drugs Out of Corn Husks appear…
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DNyuzA 19-year-old won $100,000 for inventing a cheaper, faster way to make antiviral drugs out of corn husks
Adam Kovalčík showed off a poster about his research at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in Columbus, Ohio.Chris Ayers Photography/Licensed by Society for ScienceAdam Kovalčík, age 19, innovated a cheaper, faster way to produce an antiviral drug.Galidesivir targets RNA viruses like COVID-19, Ebola, and Zika but hasn't completed clinical trials.Kovalčík won a $100,000 science fair award for using corn waste to synthesize t…
Teen finds cheaper way to make drugs against killer viruses
Columbus, Ohio — Viruses can be scary, and COVID-19 reminded us why. “We can prevent viral diseases quite well by vaccination,” says Adam Kovalčík, 19. But once someone is infected, he says, “it’s very hard to cure them.” This high school senior at Gymnázium Nové Zámky in Slovakia hopes to change that with some clever chemistry. Explainer: What is a virus? Adam invented a process for turning an alcohol made from corn husks and cobs into galidesi…
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