Journal of Pharmacological Sciences (Jul 2022)

Antiviral activity of ciclesonide acetal derivatives blocking SARS-CoV-2 RNA replication

  • Genichiro Tsuji,
  • Shogo Nakajima,
  • Koichi Watashi,
  • Shiho Torii,
  • Rigel Suzuki,
  • Takasuke Fukuhara,
  • Nobumichi Ohoka,
  • Takao Inoue,
  • Yosuke Demizu

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 149, no. 3
pp. 81 – 84

Abstract

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Ciclesonide (Cic) is approved as an inhalant for asthma and was clinically tested as a candidate therapy for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Its active metabolite Cic2 was recently reported to suppress genomic RNA replication of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. In this study, we designed and synthesized a set of ciclesonide-acetal (Cic-acetal) derivatives. Among designated compounds, some Cic-acetal derivatives with a linear alkyl chain exhibited strong viral copy-number reduction activities compared with Cic2. These compounds might serve as lead compounds for developing novel anti-COVID-19 agents.

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