Remdesivir, lopinavir, emetine, and homoharringtonine inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro

An escalating pandemic by the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus is impacting global health and effective therapeutic options are urgently needed. We evaluated the in vitro antiviral effect of compounds that were previously reported to inhibit coronavirus replication and compounds that are currently under evaluation in clinical trials for SARS-CoV-2 patients. We report the antiviral effect of remdesivir, lopinavir, homorringtonine, and emetine against SARS-CoV-2 virus in Vero E6 cells with the estimated 50% effective concentration at 23.15 μM, 26.63 μM, 2.55 μM and 0.46 μM, respectively. Ribavirin or favipiravir that are currently evaluated under clinical trials showed no inhibition at 100 μM. Synergy between remdesivir and emetine was observed, and remdesivir at 6.25 μM in combination with emetine at 0.195 μM may achieve 64.9% inhibition in viral yield. Combinational therapy may help to reduce the effective concentration of compounds below the therapeutic plasma concentrations and provide better clinical benefits. •Remdesivir inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication in Vero-E6 cells with EC50 at 23.15 μM.•Lopinavir but not ritonavir inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication with EC50 at 26.63 μM.•Homoharringtonine and emetine inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication with EC50 at 2.55 and 0.46 μM, respectively.•Combination of remdesivir and emetine showed synergistic effect in vitro.