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

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.