Discovery of Novel Small-Molecule Inhibitors of SARS-CoV‑2 Main Protease as Potential Leads for COVID-19 Treatment

The main protease of SARS-CoV-2 virus, Mpro, is an essential element for viral replication, and inhibitors targeting Mpro are currently being investigated in many drug development programs as a possible treatment for COVID-19. An in vitro pilot screen of a highly focused collection of compounds was initiated to identify new lead scaffolds for Mpro. These efforts identified a number of hits. The most effective of these was compound SIMR-2418 having an inhibitory IC50 value of 20.7 μM. Molecular modeling studies were performed to understand the binding characteristics of the identified compounds. The presence of a cyclohexenone warhead group facilitated covalent binding with the Cys145 residue of Mpro. Our results highlight the challenges of targeting Mpro protease and pave the way toward the discovery of potent lead molecules.