CIM-834 is a potent, first-in-class, orally efficacious small molecule coronavirus assembly inhibitor, blocks the assembly of SARS-CoV-2, targets the viral membrane (M) protein, inhibits replication of a panel of SARS-CoV-2 isolates with mean EC50 of 112 nM and 84 nM in VeroE6–GFP and A549ACE2+TMPRSS2 cells, respectively.
CIM-834 also inhibits the replication of SARS-CoV (EC50 of 640 nM in VeroE6–GFP cells and 530 nM in VeroE6 cells) and has low micromolar activity against HCoV-OC43, but it lacks activity against MERS-CoV and selected alphacoronaviruses (HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63, feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV) and PEDV).
CIM-834 reduces virus yield of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 four days after infection in primary human nasal epithelial cells cultured at the air–liquid interface by 4.1 and more than 5log10, at CIM-834 concentrations of 1 and 3  uM, respectively.
CIM-834 reduced lung viral titres to nearly undetectable levels in SARS-CoV-2 infected SCID mice and hamsters.