Identification of antiviral drug candidates against SARS-CoV-2 from FDA-approved drugs

Sangeun Jeon; Meehyun Ko; Jihye Lee; Inhee Choi; Soo Young Byun; Soonju Park; David Shum; Seungtaek Kim

corroborated our finding of ciclesonide as a potential antiviral drug against SARS-CoV-2 12 . A treatment report of three patients who were infected by SARS-CoV-2 in Japan (https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200303_20/) warrants further clinical investigation of this drug in patients with COVID-19. Intriguingly, an underlying mechanism for the suppression of viral infection by ciclesonide has been revealed by the isolation of a drug-resistant mutant 12 . The isolation of the drug-resistant mutant indicated that NSP15, a viral riboendonuclease, is the molecular target of ciclesonide. Together, it is not unreasonable to consider that ciclesonide exhibits a direct-acting antiviral activity in addition to its intrinsic antiinflammatory function. In the future, siRNA targeting the hormone receptor will allow to assess the extent of direct-acting antiviral activity. With its proven anti-inflammatory activity, author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.