Drug Repurposing Approach, Potential Drugs, and Novel Drug Targets for COVID-19 Treatment

Abstract

Novel coronavirus first appeared in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and it speedily expanded globally. Some medications which are used to treat other diseases seem to be effective in treating COVID-19 even without explicit support. The existing drugs that are summarized in this review primarily focused on therapeutic agents that possessed activity against other RNA viruses such as MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. Drug repurposing or repositioning is a promising field in drug discovery that identifies new therapeutic opportunities for existing drugs such as corticosteroids, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase inhibitors, interferons, protease inhibitors, ivermectin, melatonin, teicoplanin, and some others. A search for new drug/drug targets is underway. Thus, blocking coronavirus structural protein, targeting viral enzyme, dipeptidyl peptidase 4, and membrane fusion blocker (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 and CD147 inhibitor) are major sites based on molecular targets for the management of COVID-19 infection. The possible impact of biologics for the management of COVID19 is promising and includes a wide variety of options such as cytokines, nucleic acid-based therapies targeting virus gene expression, bioengineered and vectored antibodies, and various types of vaccines. This review demonstrates that the available data are not sufficient to suggest any treatment for the eradication of COVID-19 to be used at the clinical level. This article aims to review the roles of existing drugs and drug targets for COVID-19 treatment.

Repurposing – second life for drugs

“…The in silico approach facilitated drugs such as amiodarone, bromhexine and others being tested against the virus. The repurposed drugs with their potential targets and proposed mechanism(s) of action are tabulated in Table 3 (Parvathaneni and Gupta 2020;Senanayake 2020;Singh et al 2020;Sultana et al 2020;Kifle et al 2021;Taneja 2021).…”

In Silico Modeling as a Perspective in Developing Potential Vaccine Candidates and Therapeutics for COVID-19

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) is regularly updating its list of the developed vaccines [76]. COVID-19 vaccines have been the subject of several studies [9][10][11][12]. As a result of previous outbreaks of SARS CoV and MERS CoV, global industry leaders and researchers have attempted to develop a suitable vaccine [77,78].…”

“…Several FDA-approved drug candidates that have been previously applied for SARS CoV1 and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) management are currently being investigated for SARS CoV2 therapy. Drug repurposing plays a specific role in drug discovery by identifying new therapeutic uses for already studied drugs [9][10][11]. Globally, more than 500 clinical trials of repurposed drugs have been registered and a further 150 have been initiated [5].…”

Rethinking on Using of Traditional Indigenous Medicinal Plants for the Management of Covid-19 In India- A Review

“…Our traditional or the ethanobotanical knowledge could help us find an alternative approach to search for possible antiviral drug molecules. [5] Ayurveda or the traditional Indian system of medicines the has described the use of plants, which have a number of compounds and secondary metabolites that are useful for drug formulations. There is plenty of data supporting the effectiveness of herbs in treating the viral infection.…”