Identification of non-covalent 3C-like protease inhibitors against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 via virtual screening of a Korean compound library

The outbreak of coronavirus (CoV) disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has turned into a pandemic. The enzyme 3C-like protease (3CLpro) is essential for the maturation of viral polyproteins in SARS-CoV-2 and is therefore regarded as a key drug target for treating the disease. To identify 3CLpro inhibitors that can suppress SARS-CoV-2 replication, we performed a virtual screening of 500,282 compounds in a Korean compound bank. We then subjected the top computational hits to inhibitory assays against 3CLpro in vitro, leading to the identification of a class of non-covalent inhibitors. Among these inhibitors, compound 7 showed an EC50 of 39.89 mu M against SARS-CoV-2 and CC50 of 453.5 mu M. This study provides candidates for the optimization of potent 3CLpro inhibitors showing antiviral effects against SARS-CoV2.