- IC50 is one of the most often used measures of how potent a drug can inhibit a certain biological process. IC50 is the half-maximal inhibitory concentration, meaning it is the concentration of the drug needed to inhibit 50% of the biological process. The lower the IC50, the stronger the inhibitor is.

What is IC50?

The Kd is the binding constant, a unit of measurement that demonstrates how tightly a ligand binds to a protein. The lower the Kd value, the tighter the bond is between the ligand and the protein. 

What is Kd?

Te EC50 is the concentration of a drug or other compound that causes a response that is halfway between the baseline and maximum after a desired exposure time. It is commonly referred to as the concentration required to obtain 50% of the effect. It is a good empirical value of the potency of the compound.  

What is EC50?

Grand Valley State University

Santa Clara University

Coronavirus 3C-like proteases are the enzymes on the virus that play a key role in viral replication. Coronaviral protease inhibitors could theoretically prevent the virus from initially infecting the host cell, and appear to be promising drug targets. 

Types:
- GC376
- C-Phycoyanin
- peptidomimetic α-ketoamides 

Using Coronaviral Protease Inhibitors to Treat or Prevent COVID-19

Wang, Y., Yang W., Chen Y. et al.(2020 Aug 1). Structural basis of SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibition by a broad spectrum anti-coronaviral drug. American Journal of Cancer Research, 10(8): 2535-2545. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7471349/pdf/ajcr0010-2535.pdf	


Structural basis of SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibition by a broad spectrum anti-coronaviral drug 

Wang and colleagues used differential scanning fluorimetry to look at the binding affinity of GC376 and other main protease inhibitors to SARS-CoV-2.

Study Investigating the Effectiveness of GC376 as a Coronaviral Protease Inhibitor

Important Values to Define when Discussing Protease Inhibitors

An in-silico study was performed to assess the effectiveness of C-phycoyanin, a compound in spirulina, to inhibit nsp12, a molecule that is required for replication of SARS-CoV-2. 

Study Investigating the Effectiveness of  C-Phycoyanin as a Coronaviral Protease Inhibitor

A structure-based design study observed 11 different alpha-ketoamide protease inhibitors on the Nsp5, 3C- like main protease in coronaviruses and the 3C main protease in enteroviruses. These are the enzymes that are required for protein processing in viruses. 

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