Fig. 1

Nelfinavir plasma exposure and clinical benefits in rhesus macaques inoculated with SARS-CoV-2. a Plasma concentrations of nelfinavir in two healthy rhesus macaques plotted versus time (hours). b Concentration of nelfinavir measured in blood plasma in three rhesus macaques infected with SARS-CoV-2 strain 20SF107. Blood samples were collected 5 h after nelfinavir administration at 0, 1, 3, and 7 dpi, and before nelfinavir administration at 5 dpi, respectively. c, d Temperature (c) and body weight (d) changes in SARS-CoV-2 infected rhesus macaques treated with nelfinavir. SARS-CoV-2 strain 20SF107 was inoculated into two groups of three rhesus macaques, among which one group was nasogastric administered 5 mL/kg vehicle solution (0.5% CMC-Na; vehicle control; black triangles) and the other group was administered 200 mg/kg nelfinavir starting 1 day before inoculation (prophylactic nelfinavir; red circles). After inoculation, the animals were observed once daily for temperature and body weight changes. Asterisks indicate statistically significant difference in a mixed ANOVA between the vehicle control and prophylactic nelfinavir groups. *P < 0.05