AccScience Publishing / IMO / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/IMO026190022
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

In silico comparative drug repurposing analysis of selected antifungal agents against SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro, PDB ID: 6LU7): Molecular docking, ADMET profiling, and drug-likeness evaluation

Mohd Sameer1*
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1 College of Biotechnology, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India
Received: 8 May 2026 | Revised: 24 May 2026 | Accepted: 1 June 2026 | Published online: 23 June 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro, 3CLpro, PDB ID: 6LU7) cleaves viral polyproteins pp1a and pp1ab at 11 conserved recognition sites, releasing the non-structural proteins needed for replication–transcription complex assembly. Its catalytic HIS41-CYS145 dyad lacks a close human homolog, providing Mpro with a reasonable selectivity window as a drug target. Four approved antifungal azoles—posaconazole, itraconazole, fluconazole, and ketoconazole—were evaluated in this study as candidate non-covalent inhibitors against the 6LU7 crystal structure (2.16 Å) using AutoDock Vina v1.2.5 under rigid-receptor conditions. GC-376, a non-covalent Mpro inhibitor with published IC50 data, was docked under identical conditions and served as the primary scoring reference (ΔG = −6.763 kcal/mol). Nirmatrelvir was retained solely for the mechanistic context; rigid non-covalent docking cannot model its CYS145-alkylating mechanism. Posaconazole returned the strongest predicted affinity (−8.288 kcal/mol), followed by itraconazole (−8.095 kcal/mol), fluconazole (−5.068 kcal/mol), nirmatrelvir (−4.370 kcal/mol), and ketoconazole (−3.769 kcal/mol). Posaconazole occupied the HIS41-CYS145 catalytic cleft with predicted contacts at MET49 (~3.8 Å), MET165 (~4.1 Å), GLU166 (~3.3 Å), and the catalytic dyad residues HIS41 (~3.2 Å) and CYS145 (~3.5 Å). These distances were estimated from a rigid-receptor protocol and carry inherent coordinate uncertainty; they are not experimentally validated geometries. Posaconazole and itraconazole both carry multiple Lipinski violations, elevated lipophilicity (LogP > 4.5), predicted hERG II inhibition, and hepatotoxicity risk. Fluconazole showed a clean absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) profile, with weaker predicted binding (−5.068 kcal/mol). No antiviral activity was claimed. Molecular dynamics simulation, binding free energy calculation, and in vitro Mpro inhibition assays are required before any biological inference can be drawn.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
SARS-CoV-2
Mpro
Molecular docking
Drug repurposing
Antifungal azoles
Absorption; distribution; metabolism; excretion; and toxicity profiling
Interaction distances
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The author declares no competing financial or non-financial interests in relation to the work described in this manuscript.
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Innovative Medicines & Omics, Electronic ISSN: 3060-8740 Print ISSN: 3060-8910, Published by AccScience Publishing