The novel coronavirus attacks the lungs. A biotech company sees a common enzyme as key to protecting them

The novel coronavirus attacks the lungs. A biotech company sees a common enzyme as key to protecting them

Source: 
Stat
snippet: 

The virus enters through ACE2, an enzyme that is commonly found on the surface of lung cells and that, ordinarily, helps tamp down inflammation. When it’s interrupted, inflammatory forces run amok.

But ACE2 is far more than just an entryway for infection, and scientists say the enzyme could point the way to a much-needed treatment for Covid-19. Constant Therapeutics, a privately held Boston biotech company with a small staff and a threadbare website, hopes it might have just the drug to address that need.