After the New Coronavirus outbreak, research and development on highly effective anti-Neo Coronavirus COVID-19 drugs has never stopped. Recently, researchers including Haitao Yang from Shanghai University of Science and Technology, Hualiang Jiang from Shanghai Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Zihe Rao from Nankai University have collaborated to develop a new drug screening technique. The technique combines protein structure, computer simulation and high-throughput screening for the rapid identification of compounds that target the COVID-19 major protease (Mpro) and inhibit viral replication.

The researchers also established a high-throughput assay to determine the ability of drugs to inhibit protein activity by changes in fluorescence intensity. Using this method, the group tested over 10,000 drugs for their ability to inhibit the new coronavirus Mpro, most of which are already on the market, or in clinical trials, or are natural drugs. Finally, 7 drugs were used for subsequent antiviral assays, including Ebselen ,TDZD-8,shikonin,Tideglusib, PX-12 and two FDA Approved drugs Disulfiram ,Carmofur.

The researchers analyzed the binding and potential of the drugs in detail, and finally the authors evaluated the effect of the drugs using cellular assays, and ebselen and N3 really showed strong viral inhibition.