CAMBRIDGE (CBS) – Local researchers may have discovered a cure for the common cold.

Scientists at MIT are testing a new drug that they say could cure virtually any viral infection, including the common cold and the flu.

Researchers say they tested their drug against 15 viruses, and found it was effective against all of them — including rhinoviruses that cause the common cold, H1N1 influenza, a stomach virus, a polio virus, dengue fever and several other types of hemorrhagic fever.

The drug, dubbed DRACO (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizer) works by targeting cells that have been infected by viruses.

“In theory, it should work against all viruses,” says Todd Rider, a senior staff scientist in Lincoln Laboratory’s Chemical, Biological, and Nanoscale Technologies Group who invented the new technology.

Doctors hope the technology could also be used to combat outbreaks of new viruses.

For more information, Visit MIT’s website.