{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,14]],"date-time":"2026-05-14T10:22:54Z","timestamp":1778754174252,"version":"3.51.4"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,8]]},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"American Chemical Society (ACS)","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,8]],"date-time":"2020-04-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1586304000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is a severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV). While no drugs have yet been approved to treat this disease, small molecules effective against other viral infections are under clinical evaluation for therapeutic abatement of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Ongoing clinical trials include Kaletra (a combination of two protease inhibitors approved for HIV treatment), remdesivir (an investigational drug targeting RNA-dependent RNA polymerase [RdRP] of SARS-CoV-2), and hydroxychloroquine (an approved anti-malarial and immuno-modulatory drug). Since SARS-CoV-2 replication depends on three virally encoded proteins (RdRP, papain-like proteinase, and helicase), we screened 54 FDA-approved antiviral drugs and ~3300 investigational drugs for binding to these proteins using targeted and unbiased docking simulations and computational modeling. Elbasvir, a drug approved for treating hepatitis C, is predicted to bind stably and preferentially to all three proteins. At the therapeutic dosage, elbasvir has low toxicity (liver enzymes transiently elevated in 1% of subjects) and well-characterized drug-drug interactions. We predict that treatment with elbasvir, alone or in combination with other drugs such as grazoprevir, could efficiently block SARS-CoV-2 replication. The concerted action of elbasvir on at least three targets essential for viral replication renders viral mutation to drug resistance extremely unlikely.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.26434\/chemrxiv.12084822.v2","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,8]],"date-time":"2020-04-08T06:12:18Z","timestamp":1586326338000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Computational Target-Based Drug Repurposing of Elbasvir, an Antiviral Drug Predicted to Bind Multiple SARS-CoV-2 Proteins"],"prefix":"10.26434","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0273-8757","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Meenakshisundaram","family":"Balasubramaniam","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4691-0734","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robert","family":"Shmookler Reis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences","place":["U.S.A."]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"316","container-title":[],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/chemrxiv.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.26434\/chemrxiv.12084822.v2","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,14]],"date-time":"2026-05-14T09:44:48Z","timestamp":1778751888000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/chemrxiv.org\/doi\/full\/10.26434\/chemrxiv.12084822.v2"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,8]]},"references-count":0,"aliases":["10.26434\/chemrxiv.12084822"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.26434\/chemrxiv.12084822.v2","relation":{"has-version":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.26434\/chemrxiv.12084822.v1","asserted-by":"object"}]},"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,8]]},"subtype":"preprint"}}