Pfizer's "remarkable accomplishment"
(From the previous link to In the Pipeline) Derek Lowe wrote, "Step back for a moment and consider that this is really as fast as you could possibly expect a new, targeted small-molecule drug to ever be developed. Pfizer has a history in the antiviral protease world, so they had the expertise (and the screening collection!) to get a strong start. But here we are, less than two years after the emergence of this pathogen, with a bespoke drug against it. That's the speed record, and I think that it will be very, very hard to break - and I hope that we never have to try! It's a remarkable accomplishment."
I would only add that the fact that this is a reversible, covalent inhibitor should increase acceptance of this mode of inhibition. Covalent inhibitors used to be shunned, but there has been a renewed interest over the last dozen years or so; although they have been around for some time, reversible covalent inhibitors are just now hitting their stride as drug candidates.
EDT
Some believe that reversible covalent inhibitors will have fewer off-target effects than irreversible covalent inhibitors.
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