摘要
Effective drugs with broad spectrum safety profile to all people are highly expected to combat COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2.Here we report that nelfinavir,an FDA approved drug for the treatment of HIV infection,is effective against SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19.Preincubation of nelfinavir could inhibit the activity of the main protease of the SARS-CoV-2(IC50=8.26μM),while its antiviral activity in Vero E6 cells against a clinical isolate of SARS-CoV-2 was determined to be 2.93μM(EC50).In comparison with vehicle-treated animals,rhesus macaque prophylactically treated with nelfinavir had significantly lower temperature and significantly reduced virus loads in the nasal and anal swabs of the animals.At necropsy,nelfinavir-treated animals had a significant reduction of the viral replication in the lungs by nearly three orders of magnitude.A prospective clinic study with 37 enrolled treatment-naive patients at Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center,which were randomized(1:1)to nelfinavir and control groups,showed that the nelfinavir treatment could shorten the duration of viral shedding by 5.5 days(9.0 vs.14.5 days,P=0.055)and the duration of fever time by 3.8 days(2.8 vs.6.6 days,P=0.014)in mild/moderate COVID-19 patients.The antiviral efficiency and clinical benefits in rhesus macaque model and in COVID-19 patients,together with its well-established good safety profile in almost all ages and during pregnancy,indicated that nelfinavir is a highly promising medication with the potential of preventative effect for the treatment of COVID-19.
基金
supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (21ZR1475600)
Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (20431900100)
Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (19430750100)
National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFA0502301 and 2021YFC2301204)
Drug development for the newly emerging viral infectious diseases (SIMM010107)
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2022ZFJH003)
Zhejiang Provincial Key Research&Development Program of China (2021C03043 and No.2021C03039).