Conventional Understanding of SARS‐CoV‐2 Mpro and Common Strategies for Developing Its Inhibitors

Abstract The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has brought a widespread influence on the world, especially in the face of sudden coronavirus infections, and there is still an urgent need for specific small molecule therapies to cope with possible future pandemics. The pathogen responsible for this pandemic is Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), and understanding its structure and lifecycle is beneficial for designing specific drugs of treatment for COVID‐19. The main protease (M pro ) which has conservative and specific advantages is essential for viral replication and transcription. It is regarded as one of the most potential targets for anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 drug development. This review introduces the popular knowledge of SARS‐CoV‐2 M pro in drug development and lists a series of design principles and relevant activities of advanced M pro inhibitors, hoping to provide some new directions and ideas for researchers.