After a cluster of human pneumonia cases in Wuhan City (China) on 7 January 2020, a novel coronavirus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified as the causative agent of the disease COVID-19 (World Health Organization 2020). It quickly became a global pandemic and continues to rapidly spread across the world, having infected almost 4 million confirmed cases and caused more than 265 000 deaths at time of publication, far surpassing the total cases of SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Currently, health officials are relying on behavioral interventions and quarantines to contain the COVID-19 spread until effective treatment can be developed and deployed. Scientists and researchers are actively working on lifting pressure off countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of established drugs developed for other diseases (MERS coronavirus, human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], influenza, hepatitis C, Ebola, and malaria) is being investigated to combat the fastmoving COVID-19 spread (Saey 2020). Research has illustrated similarities between COVID-19 and HIV because host convertase, furin, has the potential to cleave the viral envelope glycoproteins of both viruses. This enhances viral fusion with host cell membranes. Furin is highly expressed in human lungs but also in small intestines and liver and might explain the multiple clinical symptoms observed for COVID-19 patients (Coutard et al. 2020). Lopinavir/ritonavir (HIV treatment), chloroquine phosphate (malaria treatment), ribavirin (broadspectrum antiviral), arbidol (influenza virus treatment), and interferon-α (hepatitis treatment) are some of the drugs that have been included in the latest version of the "Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Novel Coronavirus-Induced Pneumonia," issued by the National

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