5 Future directions
As we proceed with the current molecular docking studies and presuming the effectiveness of the existing antiviral compounds, the de novo drug discovery will join to evaluate the modulation of the new molecular targets of 2019-nCoV in bioassay platforms which were discussed above and not only limited to 3cl pro and RdRpin. To accelerate the long, costly and rigorous process of drug discovery, high throughput methods and high content screening methods can be employed. However, by the immediate global need for drugs to control the COVID-19 infection drug search is currently pursued by the repurposing approach. Accordingly, the critical viral life cycle steps like entry, genome and protein synthesis reflect the multiple drug target groups that can be addressed by the conventional de novo strategy of drug discovery. Assembly and release inhibitors are less considered steps in 2019-nCov life cycle for its drug discovery. While most of the drug cases for 2019-nCoV are registered for the control purpose rather than prophylaxis; S protein, integrins and ACE2 targets are of value for drug repurposing or discovery programs to hinder the viral entry and fusion process. Considering the fact that the primary goal of all viruses is to deliver and replicate their genome to the competent host cells, blocking angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), cathepsin L, 3cL protease and RdRp are suggested to be promising targets for anti-2019-nCoV drug discovery.