Structure-based design of antiviral drug candidates targeting the SARS-CoV-2 main protease

Abstract

Promising antiviral protease inhibitors With no vaccine or proven effective drug against the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), scientists are racing to find clinical antiviral treatments. A promising drug target is the viral main protease M pro , which plays a key role in viral replication and transcription. Dai et al. designed two inhibitors, 11a and 11b, based on analyzing the structure of the M pro active site. Both strongly inhibited the activity of M pro and showed good antiviral activity in cell culture. Compound 11a had better pharmacokinetic properties and low toxicity when tested in mice and dogs, suggesting that this compound is a promising drug candidate. Science , this issue p. 1331

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Affiliated Institutions

• China Pharmaceutical University CN
• Wuhan Institute of Virology CN
• University of Chinese Academy of Sciences CN
• Chinese Academy of Sciences CN
• Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica CN
• ShanghaiTech University CN
• State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology
• Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine CN
• Nankai University CN
• Sichuan University CN

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