Re-Profiling of US-FDA Approved Drugs for COVID-19 by In-silico Studies

Abstract

Covid-19 is an infectious disease that has rattled the world. Although several new vaccines are being administered to prevent infections, there is a large unmet need for antiviral drugs to ameliorate disease progression. In this study, structures of endogenous proteins were modelled using the genome browser and screened for molecular docking of drugs with spike protein of SARS COV-2 binding to ACE2 receptor using bioinformatics approaches such as structure-assisted drug design (SBDD), virtual drug screening (VS), and high-throughput screening (HTS). We have screened 150 drugs that were shortlisted from extensive literature data, 110 of these have been approved by the US-FDA for various diseases. We have developed a molecule assessment process from which we have identified fifteen drugs that have the potential for repurposing towards blocking SARS-COV2 proteins with endogenous proteins. Using these approaches, we have identified asthma drugs such as Cromolyn sodium, Ciclesonide and Zafirlukast.