Broad antiviral activity of naproxen: from Influenza A to SARS-CoV-2

View ORCID ProfileOlivier Terrier, Sebastien Dilly, Mario-Andres Pizzorno, Julien Henri, View ORCID ProfileFrancis Berenbaum, Bruno Lina, Bruno Feve, Frederic Adnet, Michele Sabbah, Manuel Rosa-Calavatra, Vincent Marechal, View ORCID ProfileAnny Slama-Schwok

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.30.069922

This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?].

Abstract

There is an urgent need for specific antiviral drugs directed against SARS-CoV-2 both to prevent the most severe forms of COVID-19 and to reduce viral excretion and subsequent virus dissemination; in the present pandemic context, drug repurposing is a priority. Targeting the nucleoprotein N of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in order to inhibit its association with viral RNA could be a strategy to impeding viral replication and possibly other essential functions associated with viral N. The antiviral properties of naproxen, belonging to the NSAID family, previously demonstrated against Influenza A virus, were evaluated against SARS-CoV-2. Naproxen binding to the nucleoprotein of SARS-CoV2 was shown by molecular modeling. In VeroE6 cells and reconstituted human primary respiratory epithelium models of SARS-CoV-2 infection, naproxen inhibited viral replication and protected the bronchial epithelia against SARS-CoV-2 induced-damage. The benefit of naproxen addition to the standard of care is tested in an on-going clinical study.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Paper in collection COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 preprints from medRxiv and bioRxiv

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https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.30.069922v1