The project aims to design new molecules capable of inhibiting an essential component of coronavirus functioning in order to identify a treatment for COVID-19 but also therapeutic weapons indispensable to potential future coronavirus-related epidemics. In this context, the 3CL protease (3CL-Pro, MPro), a highly conserved protease within this family of viruses and essential to the viral cycle of coronaviruses, appears to be a promising therapeutic target. The multiparametric optimization of several families of compounds inhibiting this protease, identified in the laboratory through a high-throughput screening of a chemical library of 90,000 compounds, is in progress.