Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2020 Sep 25;11(5):e02134-20.
doi: 10.1128/mBio.02134-20.

Antiviral Drug Discovery To Address the COVID-19 Pandemic

Douglas D Richman  1
Affiliations
Comment

Antiviral Drug Discovery To Address the COVID-19 Pandemic

Douglas D Richman. mBio. .

Abstract

The magnitude of the morbidity and mortality inflicted upon the global population in less than 1 year has driven the inescapable conclusion that the discovery and development of effective antiviral drugs for COVID-19 are urgent and should be prioritized. The antiviral drug discovery programs that emerged for HIV and hepatitis C virus have enabled technology and expertise to accelerate this process for SARS-CoV-2. The description of candidate lead inhibitors for the viral main protease (Mpro) exemplifies this accelerated approach and reminds us of the needs and opportunities for addressing this pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; antiviral agents; coronavirus; drug resistance; hepatitis C virus; human immunodeficiency virus; protease inhibitors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment on

References

    1. Hattori S-I, Higshi-Kuwata N, Raghavaiah J, Das D, Bulut H, Davis DA, Takamatsu Y, Matsuda K, Takamune N, Kishimoto N, Okamura T, Misumi S, Yarchoan R, Maeda K, Ghosh AK, Mitsuya H. 2020. GRL-0920, an indole chloropyridinyl ester, completely blocks SARS-CoV-2 infection. mBio 11:e01833-20. doi:10.1128/mBio.01833-20. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dai W, Zhang B, Jiang XM, Su H, Li J, Zhao Y, Xie X, Jin Z, Peng J, Liu F, Li C, Li Y, Bai F, Wang H, Cheng X, Cen X, Hu S, Yang X, Wang J, Liu X, Xiao G, Jiang H, Rao Z, Zhang LK, Xu Y, Yang H, Liu H. 2020. Structure-based design of antiviral drug candidates targeting the SARS-CoV-2 main protease. Science 368:1331–1335. doi:10.1126/science.abb4489. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sheahan TP, Sims AC, Zhou S, Graham RL, Pruijssers AJ, Agostini ML, Leist SR, Schafer A, Dinnon KH III, Stevens LJ, Chappell JD, Lu X, Hughes TM, George AS, Hill CS, Montgomery SA, Brown AJ, Bluemling GR, Natchus MG, Saindane M, Kolykhalov AA, Painter G, Harcourt J, Tamin A, Thornburg NJ, Swanstrom R, Denison MR, Baric RS. 2020. An orally bioavailable broad-spectrum antiviral inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in human airway epithelial cell cultures and multiple coronaviruses in mice. Sci Transl Med 12:eabb5883. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.abb5883. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Berliba E, Bogus M, Vanhoutte F, Berghmans PJ, Good SS, Moussa A, Pietropaolo K, Murphy RL, Zhou XJ, Sommadossi JP. 2019. Safety, pharmacokinetics and antiviral activity of AT-527, a novel purine nucleotide prodrug, in HCV-infected subjects with and without cirrhosis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 63:e01201-19. doi:10.1128/AAC.01201-19. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Good S, Westover J, Jung KH, La Colla P, Collu G, Moussa A, Canard B, Sommadossi J-P. 2020. AT-527 is a potent in vitro replication inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. bioRxiv doi:10.1101/2020.08.11.242834. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources