Scientists in China were searching for potential protease inhibitors in their study of COVID-19 before February .
On 22 January , a group in China working with the full virus and a group in the U.S. working with reverse genetics independently and experimentally demonstrated ACE2 as the receptor for 2019-nCoV.To look for potential drugs , the viral protease M ( pro ) was also modeled for drug docking experiments .
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2