Screening of FDA-Approved Drugs Using a MERS-CoV Clinical Isolate from South Korea Identifies Potential Therapeutic Options for COVID-19.

ABSTRACT: Therapeutic options for coronaviruses remain limited. To address this unmet medical need, we screened 5406 compounds, including United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs and bioactives, for activity against a South Korean Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) clinical isolate. Among 221 identified hits, 54 had therapeutic indexes (TI) greater than 6, representing effective drugs. The time-of-addition studies with selected drugs demonstrated eight and four FDA-approved drugs which acted on the early and late stages of the viral life cycle, respectively. Confirmed hits included several cardiotonic agents (TI > 100), atovaquone, an anti-malarial (TI > 34), and ciclesonide, an inhalable corticosteroid (TI > 6). Furthermore, utilizing the severe acute res

SUBMITTER: Ko M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8069929 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature