The compound, engineered by British researchers, could prevent millions from catching the virus by blocking its transmission to others and treat those who already have it.
It could also be used against potentially fatal illnesses including polio and hand, foot and mouth disease, which causes cold-like symptoms and, while treatable, has caused thousands of deaths worldwide.
Professor Dave Stuart, from the University of Oxford, who led the research, said: “At the moment there are a number of drugs that are effective against the flu. But there are no drugs available at all against the whole group of viruses that include the common cold, polio and hand, foot and mouth disease.
Prof Stuart said: “If everything goes very well and we are patient, hopefully we might be in a position where there is the first viable treatment for the common cold.”
If everything goes very well and we are patient, hopefully we might be in a position where there is the first viable treatment for the common cold
Researchers studied the structure of the EV71 virus, which causes hand, foot and mouth disease, and designed a compound that stops it in its tracks.
The compound works by binding to the virus, paralysing it and preventing it from releasing the genetic material that causes infection. As a result, the drug could be used to treat the infection and, as a preventative measure, stop it from spreading.
Scientists working on the study, published in the journal Nature, have tested the compound on other viruses closely related to EV71 – including the cold virus – and discovered it is effective against all of them.
Prof Stuart, director of the division of structural biology in the Nuffield Department of Medicine, said the compound could help improve polio vaccines to help global efforts to eradicate the disease once and for all.
But its biggest impact could be in developing a drug that could treat colds that afflict millions of Britons every year. He said: “Although colds are normally a mild disease, there are some people, for example those with asthma, for whom it can be much more serious.
“And colds can be a massive problem, causing many people to have to take time off work sick.”
He said the research is still in its “early days” and further studies will need to be carried out before human trials of the drug can begin.
But he said that if tests continue to give positive results he hopes it will lead to the development of a drug that could finally treat and prevent people catching colds.
It could then be prescribed like the flu drug Tamiflu, which is given to those who are deemed at greater risk of the illness.
Neal Patel, of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, warned that any anti-cold drug will only be a success if it has very few side-effects – otherwise doctors and patients are likely to shun it and soldier on with a cold instead.
He added: “But something like the common cold, while it is debilitating and awful for a few day, is not something that is very serious for the vast majority of people.”
“Trying to crack some of the viruses that cause significantly more harmful conditions should be where the real priority lies.”