The NS3 serine protease enzyme of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is essential
for viral replication. Short peptides mimicking the N-terminal substrate cl
eavage products of the NS3 protease are known to act as weak inhibitors of
the enzyme and have been used as templates for the design of peptidomimetic
inhibitors. Automated solid-phase synthesis of a small library of compound
s based on such a peptidomimetic scaffold has led to the identification of
potent and highly selective inhibitors of the NS3 protease enzyme.