Selection of Active Antiviral Compounds Against COVID-19 Disease Targeting Coronavirus Endoribonuclease Nendou/NSP15 Via Ligandbased Virtual Screening and Molecular Docking

Joshi, Gaurav Poduri Ramarao

Background: The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 has caused havoc and panic among individuals, which has further worsened due to the unavailability of a proven drug(s) regime. Objective: The current work involves drug repurposing from the pool of USFDA approved drugs involving in silico virtual screening technique against COVID-19. Materials and Methods: Methodology involves virtual screening of 8548 FDA approved drugs against target protein endoribonuclease NendoU (Nsp15) (PDB ID: 6VWW). Result: Virtual screening-based analysis enabled us to identify four drugs, Eprosartan, Inarigivir soproxil, Foretinib, and DB01813 that could plausibly target Nsp15 against COVID-19 disease. Conclusion: The work offers the scope to corroborate the findings via in vitro and in vivo techniques to identify the potential of selected leads against COVID-19. The outcome may also help in tracing their molecular mechanism(s) in addition to their development at the clinical level in the future.