On Dec. 5, 2021, Sorrento Therapeutics announced the peer-reviewed publication of a series of novel SARS-CoV-2 MPro inhibitors with potent activities for both MPro and cathepsin L, a key host enzyme for SARS-CoV-2 entry into host cells, authored by Dr. Wenshe Ray Liu, professor at Texas A&M University.

SARS-CoV-2 main protease (MPro) is a key enzyme for the viral life cycle including virus entry, replication and packaging. MPro is highly conserved in all discovered SARS CoV-2 variants and is identified as a critical target for developing broad-spectrum antiviral drugs.