  The main reasons for the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic
are the unavailability of recommended efficacious drugs or vaccines along with
the human to human transmission nature of SARS-CoV-2 virus. So, there is urgent
need to search appropriate therapeutic approach by repurposing approved drugs.
In this communication, molecular docking analyses of two influenza antiviral
drugs baloxavir acid (BXA) and baloxavir marboxil (BXM) were performed with the
three therapeutic target proteins of severe acute respiratory syndrome
coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), i.e., main protease (Mpro), papain-like protease
(PLpro) and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). The molecular docking results
of both the drugs BXA and BXM were analysed and compared. The investigational
drug BXA binds at the active site of Mpro and RdRp, whereas the approved drug
BXM binds only at the active site of RdRp. Also, comparison of dock score
revealed that BXA is binding more effectively at the active site of RdRp than
BXM. The computational molecular docking revealed that the drug BXA may be more
effective against COVID-19 as compared to BXM.
