The absence of 3D structures for most viral proteins has limited the identification of novel chemotypes through CADD approaches. Furthermore, the lack of biological validation after in silico studies may slow down progress in this field, as researchers might focus on compounds that seem promising only at the computational level. Emerging systems such as human intestinal enteroids, together with AI/MLaugmented CADD, can accelerate optimization and triage of nonnucleoside and covalent protease inhibitors.