Small molecular agents against MERS-CoV infection / 药学学报

ABSTRACT

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has caused outbreaks of SARS-like disease with 35% case-fatality rate, mainly in the Middle East. A more severe outbreak of MERS occurred recently in the Republic of Korea, where 186 people contracted the infections, causing great concern worldwide. So far, there has been no clinically available drug for the treatment of MERS-CoV infection. The potential drugs against MERS-CoV mainly consist of monoclonal antibodies, peptides and small molecular agents. Small molecular agents have an advantage of easier synthesis, lower cost in production and relatively higher stability. There is better chance for those candidates to gain a quick development. This article reviews the progress of developing small molecular MERS-CoV agents.