An effective drug against COVID-19: reality or dream?

Abstract

Introduction: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is well known as a novel member of the coronavirus family which caused a sudden outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China that quickly developed into a global pandemic. No effective approaches are found as yet for the therapy and epidemiological control of this new virus. For this purpose, we searched the literature in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Knowledge, Google Scholar, and MeSH, from all years of study until 23rd of October 2020, for articles and abstracts describing SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, pneumonia, clinical trials, drug, treatment, and medicine. Areas covered: The present study aimed to comprehensively overview of the current literature on effective anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs. Expert opinion: Since the beginning of this pandemic disease, many studies have been conducted to find effective drugs to prevent COVID-19, because there are no specific drugs for the treatment of this disease. Most of these drugs with the antiviral potential effect toward COVID-19 are already used as the treatment of other infectious diseases. Some drugs that show the promising therapeutic potential in the initial clinical studies include remdesivir as an inhibitor of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and favipiravir as an inhibitor of virus replication. Currently, remdesivir received the FDA authorizes to use as an experimental drug for emergency use in COVID-19 patients.

Evaluation of Nail Findings in Patients with COVID-19 History and Wood’s Lamp Examination

“…It is recommended to be used as orally 1,600 mg, twice daily, on the first day followed by 600 mg twice daily. It has been used to reduce the viral load in the treatment of coronavirus since March 2020 in Turkey [ 5 , 6 ]. Although hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) was the most commonly used drug at the beginning of the pandemic in our country, favipiravir has now been replaced.…”

The Development and the Validation of a Novel Dissolution Method of Favipiravir Film-Coated Tablets

“…Although it is not yet approved as the main anti-viral agent for COVID-19, favipiravir is considered a potential candidate drug [5,6]. In mid-February 2020, a clinical trial using favipiravir as therapy for COVID-19 was initiated and achieved promising results [7]. Recently, the treatment guidelines from many countries and some states in India have included favipiravir in their treatment protocols [8].…”

Coronaviruses Construct an Interconnection Way with ERAD and Autophagy

“…The strategies of coronaviruses to confront the autophagy process are somewhat the same, and they all enhance autophagy before autophagosome maturation [82,103,104,111,112,135]. Some of the coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV could induce the autophagy process by PLpro-TM.…”

“…Autophagy/ERAD inhibitor Chloroquine (CQ) and its less toxic derivative hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) have received attention for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection. CQ and HCQ are endosome/lysosome regulators, which are essentially required in autophagy, especially in the maturation stage [80]. HCQ is more soluble and less toxic than CQ, and both of them are consumed in phosphate and sulfate forms with a long half-life that is estimated to be between 40 and 60 days [81].…”