The Role of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

There is no effective therapy against COVID-19 available so far. In the last months, different drugs have been tested as potential treatments for COVID-19, exhibiting high toxicity and low efficacy. Therefore, nanotechnology can be applied to improve the therapeutic action and minimize the toxicity of loaded drugs. In this review, we summarized the drugs tested as COVID-19 treatment and the advantages of antiviral nanostructured drug-delivery systems. Such systems have demonstrated low in vitro toxicity with better in vitro antiviral activity than free drugs. We believe that this approach should inspire novel nanostructured drug-delivery systems developments to find efficient COVID-19 treatments. Here, we discuss the remaining challenges for such promising nanosystems to be approved for clinical use.

Nanoemulsions: The rising star of antiviral therapeutics and nanodelivery system—current status and prospects

“…In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the plethora of studies on the disease pathogenesis and development of therapeutic and preventive options, there are unexplored areas such as repurposing and reformulating currently available antivirals, especially as nano-formulations. Many researchers have suggested that curcumin may play a prominent role in COVID-19 therapy [ [105] , [106] , [107] ]. A safe NE formulation with antiviral oil, antiviral surfactant/cosurfactant, and antiviral drugs/substances may provide a promising solution for COVID-19 therapy.…”

Nanomaterial-based drug delivery systems as promising carriers for patients with COVID-19

“…(II) Inside host cells, favipiravir carried by the nano-emulsion can interfere with the actions of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). 171 …”

The Viral Capsid As Novel Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery

“…VLPs of Macrobrachium rosenbergii nodavirus (MrNVLPs) have been developed as a multifunctional drug delivery vehicle, whereas folic acid was chemically conjugated to the surface exposed lysine amino acid, while doxorubicin was internally loaded within the MrNVLPs via infusion approach. Authors reported sustained DOX release in a thermally responsive manner with an increase in drug release in response to an elevated temperature of 43°C on HT29 cells than CCD841CoN normal cells while reducing DOX cytotoxicity on the normal cells as they lack the overexpression of folate receptor [ 133 , 134 ].…”