In vitro antiviral activity against SARS‐CoV‐2 of 28 Strychnos extracts

Abstract

To the Editor, By the end of December 2019, an increasing number of patients diagnosed with pneumonia and respiratory failure of unknown origin in the Chinese city of Wuhan, lead to the discovery of the 2019 novel Coronavirus. Up to date, the therapy of the SARS-CoV-2 is limited to treat the symptoms and not to cure the Covid-19 disease (like Tamiflu for influenza), for this reason, the discovery of new antivirals is crucial.Natural products are an important source of antiviral compounds and therefore are extensively studied (Kim, 2021).Broad studies in our laboratory on Asian, African and Brazilian Strychnos species have been conducted, and have led to the isolation of numerous alkaloidic compounds. These plants have been evaluatedfor their antimalarial and cytotoxic potentials (Beaufay et al., 2018;

Traditional Chinese Medicine: A path worth exploring in the fight against COVID-19?

“…The disease resulting from the virus was named COVID-19. 1 , 2 Despite the efforts to contain the spread of the virus, by March 2020, the WHO declared the world is facing a full-scale pandemic. TCM has been practiced for more than 5000 years and has gathered knowledge throughout the millennia in the fight against epidemic and pandemic threats.…”