A multi-institutional group led by the University of California at San Francisco’s Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) has identified more than 200 host proteins that interacted with SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins during infection, creating “a blueprint of how SARS-CoV-2 hijacks human cells,” QBI Director Nevan Krogan told reporters. They then used that blueprint to identify 10 drugs, some FDA approved and some in clinical trials, that were able to inhibit viral growth in cell culture assays, marking them for further study as potential antivirals. The work also identified one compound, dextromethorphan, that appeared to facilitate viral growth.