Table 1.

Potential antivirals against corona viruses and their therapeutic targets and mechanisms of action.

	Anti-virals	Anti-viral targets	Mechanism of action	References
Viral S glycoprotein	P6 peptide	RBD of S protein	Binds to S protein preventing the entry of virus	Han et al. (2006)
	20-mer synthetic peptides	Cleavage site of S protein	Block the production of functional S1 and S2 domain	Zheng et al. (2005)
	EK1	HR1	Inhibits fusion of S protein with host receptor	Xia et al. (2019)
	EK1C4 peptide	HR1	Inhibits fusion of S protein with host receptor	Xia et al. (2020)
	CP-1	HR2	Interacts with HR1 inhibiting viral infection	Liu et al. (2004)
	Griffithsin	S protein	Binds to S protein blocking virus –host interaction	(Barton et al., 2014; O'Keefe et al., 2010)
	Soluble ACE2	S1 subunit of S protein	Blocks S1 subunit of S protein	(Li et al., 2003; Sui et al., 2004)
	80R, CR3014, m396, S230.15, CR3022, MERS-27, MERS-GD27, hMS-1, Mersmab1	RBD of S protein	Blocks interaction with the host receptor	(Sui et al., 2005; Tian et al., 2020; Zhou et al., 2019; Zhu et al., 2007)
	TGG and luteolin	S protein	Binds to S protein and blocks entry into the host cell	Yi et al. (2004)
	VE605	S protein	Blocks entry into the host cell	Kao et al. (2004)
	siRNA	S protein	Inhibits the expression of S protein	Wu et al. (2005)
Host cell receptor	S471-503 peptide	ACE2	Blocks binding between RBD and host receptor	Hu et al. (2005)
	193aa fragment (318–510)	ACE2	Blocks S protein mediated viral infection	Wong et al. (2004)
	Recombinant S377-588-Fc	DPP4	Blocks binding of viral RBD to host receptor	Du et al. (2013)
Viral mRNA synthesis and replicase	Remdesivir	RdRp	Inhibits viral RNA synthesis	Sheahan et al. (2017)
	Favipiravir	RdRp	Inhibits viral RNA synthesis	(Furuta et al., 2017; Mifsud et al., 2019)
	Fleximer nucleoside analogue	RdRp	Inhibits viral replication	Peters et al. (2015)
	Ribavirin	RdRp	Inhibits viral RNA synthesis	(Omrani et al., 2014; Saijo et al., 2005)
	K22	mRNA	Inhibits viral RNA synthesis	Lundin et al. (2014)
	Ribozymes	mRNA	Inhibits viral RNA synthesis	Fukushima et al. (2009)
	DRACO	Viral dsRNA	Kills cells containing dsRNA	Rider et al. (2011)
Viral proteases	Lopinavir and ritonavir	3CLpro	Inhibits the activity of 3CLpro	(Chan et al., 2015; Yao et al., 2020)
	6-mercaptopurine and 6-thioguanine	PLpro	Inhibits the activity of PLpro	Cheng et al. (2015)
	Mycophenolic acid	PLpro	Blocks replication of virus	Hart et al. (2014)
	Benzodioxole	PLpro	Inhibits the activity of PLpro	Baez-Santos et al. (2014)
	ML188, ML300 and N3	3CLpro	Inhibits the activity of 3CLpro	(Jacobs et al., 2013; Turlington et al., 2013; Yang et al., 2005a)