ABSTRACT Development of de novo therapeutic agents is a complex, costly, and a high‐risk process, whereas repurposing approved and investigational drugs for novel targets offers a more efficient and cost‐effective strategy, likely yielding higher success rates. This approach demonstrated its effectiveness during SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic, when existing drugs were repurposed to combat the virus. Originally pivotal in developing antiviral treatments against HIV and HCV, viral protease inhibitors represent a structurally privileged class of compounds capable of targeting difficult and non‐classical protein sites. They have demonstrated promising biological activity against diverse alternative targets, including fungal pathogens, multidrug‐resistant bacteria, and cancer, making them prime candidates for repurposing. This mini‐review highlights the unique structural and physicochemical properties of approved HCV and HIV viral protease inhibitors that enable their repurposing for the development of new therapeutic agents.
Iuzabchuk et al. (Thu,) studied this question.