COVID Moonshot: open science discovery of SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitors by combining crowdsourcing, high-throughput experiments, computational simulations, and machine learning

Journal article

Herein we provide a living summary of the data generated during the COVID Moonshot project focused on the development of SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) inhibitors. Our approach uniquely combines crowdsourced medicinal chemistry insights with high throughput crystallography, exascale computational chemistry infrastructure for simulations, and machine learning in triaging designs and predicting synthetic routes. This manuscript describes our methodologies leading to both covalent and non-covalent inhibitors displaying protease IC50 values under 150 nM and viral inhibition under 5 uM in multiple different viral replication assays. Furthermore, we provide over 200 crystal structures of fragment-like and lead-like molecules in complex with the main protease. Over 1000 synthesized and ordered compounds are also reported with the corresponding activity in Mpro enzymatic assays using two different experimental setups. The data referenced in this document will be continually updated to reflect the current experimental progress of the COVID Moonshot project, and serves as a citable reference for ensuing publications. All of the generated data is open to other researchers who may find it of use.

Authors: Achdout, H; Aimon, A; Bar-David, E; Morris, GM

• Publication status: Not published
• Peer review status: Not peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
• Journal: bioRxiv
• Publication date: 2020-10-30
• DOI: 10.1101/2020.10.29.339317
• Language: English
• Keywords: SBTMR