JIB-04 Has Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Activity and Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Replication and Coronavirus Pathogenesis
Juhee Son, Shimeng Huang, Qiru Zeng, Traci L. Bricker, James Brett Case, Jinzhu Zhou, Ruochen Zang, Zhuoming Liu, Xinjian Chang, Tamarand L. Darling, Jian Xu, Houda Harastani, Lu Chen, María Florencia Gómez Castro, Yongxiang Zhao, Hinissan P. Kohio, Gaopeng Hou, Baochao Fan, Beibei Niu, Rongli Guo, Paul W. Rothlauf, Adam L. Bailey, Xin Wang, Pei‐Yong Shi, Elisabeth D. Martínez, Steven L. Brody, Sean P. J. Whelan, Michael Diamond, Adrianus C. M. Boon, Bin Li, Siyuan Ding
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection, is an ongoing public health disaster worldwide. Although several vaccines are available as a preventive measure and the FDA approval of an orally bioavailable drug is on the horizon, there remains a need for developing antivirals against SARS-CoV-2 that could work on the early course of infection. By using infectious reporter viruses, we screened small-molecule inhibitors for antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. Among the top hits was JIB-04, a compound previously studied for its anticancer activity. Here, we showed that JIB-04 inhibits the replication of SARS-CoV-2 as well as different DNA and RNA viruses. Furthermore, JIB-04 conferred protection in a porcine model of coronavirus infection, although to a lesser extent when given as therapeutic rather than prophylactic doses. Our findings indicate a limited but still promising utility of JIB-04 as an antiviral agent in the combat against COVID-19 and potentially other viral diseases.