Title: Lopinavir-ritonavir is not an effective inhibitor of the main protease activity of SARS-CoV-2<i>in vitro</i>
Abstract:ABSTRACT COVID-19 has caused over 900,000 deaths worldwide as of September 2020, and effective medicines are urgently needed. Lopinavir was identified as an inhibitor of the HIV protease, and a lopina...ABSTRACT COVID-19 has caused over 900,000 deaths worldwide as of September 2020, and effective medicines are urgently needed. Lopinavir was identified as an inhibitor of the HIV protease, and a lopinavir-ritonavir combination therapy was reported to be beneficial for the treatment of SARS and MERS. However, recent clinical tests could not prove that lopinavir-ritonavir therapy was an effective treatment for COVID-19. In this report, we examined the effect of lopinavir and ritonavir to the activity of the purified main protease (Mpro) protein of SARS- CoV-2, the causative virus of COVID-19. Unexpectedly, lopinavir and ritonavir did not inhibit Mpro activity. These results will aid the drug candidate selection for ongoing and future COVID-19 clinical trials.Read More
Publication Year: 2020
Publication Date: 2020-09-16
Language: en
Type: preprint
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 11
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