Exploring the Power and Promise of In Silico Clinical Trials with Application in COVID-19 Infection

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically engulfed the world causing catastrophic damage to human society. Several therapeutic and vaccines have been suggested for the disease in the past months, with over 150 clinical trials currently running or under process. Nevertheless, these trials are extremely expensive and require a long time, which presents the need for alternative cost-effective methods to tackle this urgent requirement for validated therapeutics and vaccines. Bearing this in mind, here we assess the use of in silico clinical trials as a significant development in the field of clinical research, which holds the possibility to reduce the time and cost needed for clinical trials on COVID-19 and other diseases.
 Methods: Using the PubMed database, we analyzed six relevant scientific articles regarding the possible application of in silico clinical trials in testing the therapeutic and investigational methods of managing different diseases.
 Results: Successful use of in silico trials was observed in many of the reviewed evidence.
 Conclusion: In silico clinical trials can be used in refining clinical trials for COVID-19 infection.
 Keywords: in silico, clinical trials, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, vaccine How