An overview of the recent progress in Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) drug discovery

ABSTRACT

Introduction

The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has remained a public health concern since it first emerged in 2012. Although many potential treatments for MERS-CoV have been developed and tested, none have had complete success in stopping the spread of this deadly disease. MERS-CoV replication comprises attachment, entry, fusion and replication steps. Targeting these events may lead to the creation of medications that effectively treat MERS-CoV infection.

Areas covered

This review updates the research on the development of inhibitors of MERS-CoV. The main topics are MERS-CoV‒related proteins and host cell proteins that are involved in viral protein activation and infection.

Expert opinion

Research on discovering drugs that can inhibit MERS-CoV started at a slow pace, and although efforts have steadily increased, clinical trials for new drugs specifically targeting MERS-CoV have not been extensive enough. The explosion in efforts to find new medications for the SARS-CoV-2 virus indirectly enhanced the volume of data on MERS-CoV inhibition by including MERS-CoV in drug assays. The appearance of COVID-19 completely transformed the data available on MERS-CoV inhibition. Despite the fact that new infected cases are constantly being diagnosed, there are currently no approved vaccines for or inhibitors of MERS-CoV.

KEYWORDS:

• MERS-CoV
• coronaviruses
• drug discovery
• replication
• spike
• antivirals

Declaration of interest

The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research, the Vice Presidency for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia (Project# GRANT2380).