Protease inhibitor GC376 for COVID-19: Lessons learned from feline infectious peritonitis

Khan Sharun; Ruchi Tiwari; Kuldeep Dhama

doi:10.1016/j.amsu.2020.12.030

Protease inhibitor GC376 for COVID-19: Lessons learned from feline infectious peritonitis

Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2020 Dec 28:61:122-125. doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2020.12.030. eCollection 2021 Jan.

Authors

Khan Sharun¹, Ruchi Tiwari², Kuldeep Dhama³

Affiliations

¹ Division of Surgery, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly, 243 122, Uttar Pradesh, India.
² Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Sciences, Uttar Pradesh Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Pashu Chikitsa Vigyan Vishwavidyalaya Evam Go Anusandhan Sansthan (DUVASU), Mathura, 281001, India.
³ Division of Pathology, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly, 243 122, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Abstract

The main protease (M^pro) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an important therapeutic target as it plays a major role in the processing and maturation of the viral polyprotein. GC376 is a pre-clinical dipeptide-based protease inhibitor that has been previously used for managing feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV). Since both GC373 and GC376 have already been successfully used in treating animal coronavirus infection, they can be considered as strong drug candidates for COVID-19 in humans. GC376 is a broad-spectrum antiviral drug that inhibits M^pro of several viruses, including the coronaviruses like feline coronavirus, porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, ferret, and mink coronavirus. However, further studies should be conducted to evaluate the potency, efficacy, and safety of these broad-spectrum M^pro inhibitors in patients with COVID-19. The lessons learned from the successful use of drug candidates for treating animal coronavirus infections will help us to develop framework for their use in human trials.

Keywords: COVID-19; Feline coronavirus; Feline infectious peritonitis; Main protease inhibitor; SARS-CoV-2; Therapeutics.