Drug development targeting SARS-CoV-2 main protease

Abstract

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants are responsible for the devastating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with more than 6.5 million deaths since 2019. Although a number of vaccines significantly reduced the mortality rate, a large number of the world population is yet being infected with highly contagious omicron variants/subvarints. Additional therapeutic interventions are needed to reduce hospitalization and curb the ongoing pandemic. The activity of the SARS-CoV-2 enzyme; chymotrypsin-like main protease (M^pro) is essential for the cleavage of viral nonstructural polypeptides into individual functional proteins and therefore M^pro is an attractive drug target. The aim of this review is to summarize recent progress toward the development of therapeutic drugs against M^pro protease.