High throughput screening for drugs that inhibit 3C-like protease in SARS-CoV-2

The SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic remains a major problem in many parts of the world and infection rates remain at extremely high levels. This high prevalence drives the continued emergence of new variants, and possibly ones that are more vaccine-resistant and that can drive infections even in highly vaccinated populations. The high rate of variant evolution makes clear the need for new therapeutics that can be clinically applied to minimize or eliminate the effects of COVID-19. With a hurdle of 10 years, on average, for first in class small molecule therapeutics to achieve FDA approval, the fastest way to identify therapeutics is by drug repurposing. To this end, we developed a high throughput cell-based screen that incorporates the essential viral 3C-like protease and its peptide cleavage site into a luciferase complementation assay to evaluate the efficacy of known drugs encompassing approximately 15,000 clinical-stage or FDA-approved small molecules. Confirmed inhibitors were also tested to determine their cytotoxic properties. Medicinal chemistry efforts to optimize the hits identified Tranilast as a potential lead. Here, we report the rapid screening and identification of potentially relevant drugs that exhibit selective inhibition of the SARS-CoV-2 viral 3C-like protease.