Discovery of M Protease Inhibitors Encoded by SARS-CoV-2
Hui-Chen Hung, Yi‐Yu Ke, Sheng‐Yu Huang, Peng-Nien Huang, Yu-An Kung, Teng-Yuan Chang, Kuei-Jung Yen, Tzu-Ting Peng, Shao-En Chang, Chin-Ting Huang, Ya-Ru Tsai, Szu-Huei Wu, Shiow‐Ju Lee, Jiunn-Horng Lin, Bing-Sin Liu, Wang‐Chou Sung, Shin‐Ru Shih, Chiung-Tong Chen, John Hsu
Abstract
The coronavirus (CoV) disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a health threat worldwide. Viral main protease (M pro , also called 3C‐like protease [3CL pro ]) is a therapeutic target for drug discovery. Herein, we report that GC376, a broad-spectrum inhibitor targeting M pro in the picornavirus-like supercluster, is a potent inhibitor for the M pro encoded by SARS-CoV-2, with a half-maximum inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) of 26.