Combined in silico and in vitro approaches identified the antipsychotic drug lurasidone and the antiviral drug elbasvir as SARS-CoV2 and HCoV-OC43 inhibitors

Antiviral Res. 2021 Mar 10:105055. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2021.105055. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe current emergency of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV2 urged the need for broad-spectrum antiviral drugs as the first line of treatment. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that already challenged humanity in at least two other previous outbreaks and are likely to be a constant threat for the future. In this work we developed a pipeline based on in silico docking of known drugs on SARS-CoV1 and 2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase combined with in vitro antiviral assays on both SARS-CoV2 and the common cold human coronavirus HCoV-OC43. Results showed that certain drugs displayed activity for both viruses at a similar inhibitory concentration, while others were specific. In particular, the antipsychotic drug lurasidone and the antiviral drug elbasvir showed promising activity in the low micromolar range against both viruses with good selectivity index.PMID:33713730 | DOI:10.1016/j.antiviral.2021.105055

Source: Antiviral Research - March 13, 2021 Category: Virology Authors: Mario Milani Manuela Donalisio Rafaela Milan Bonotto Edoardo Schneider Irene Arduino Francesco Boni David Lembo Alessandro Marcello Eloise Mastrangelo Source Type: research