College of Pharmacy, National University of Science and Technology, PO Box 620, PC 130, Muscat, Oman.
College of Pharmacy, National University of Science and Technology, PO Box 620, PC 130, Muscat, Oman.
J Infect Public Health. 2021 Apr;14(4):495-503. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.10.012. Epub 2020 Oct 27.
A novel corona virus-2 disease has spread to 213 countries and territories across the globe. The corona pandemic has claimed more than 548,934 deaths worldwide till the evening of 8th of July 2020 and the number of confirmed cases is increasing at an alarming rate. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find a treatment or a vaccine for COVID-19 at the earliest. The aim of this mini-review is to give an overview of identified repurposed anti-COVID-19 drugs which are currently under clinical trials.
A thorough literature survey was done to retrieve relevant information using various web based search engines such as Google, Google scholar, and various other electronic research databases such as PubMed, Medline, MeSh etc. The findings of the recently published articles, clinical trials, COVID-19 update by World Health Organization etc., and the opinion of the authors is summarized in this brief review. The antiviral medicinal plants were identified based on their use in Chinese/Indian indigenous systems of medicine, traditional use, published scientific phytochemical studies and/or their effectiveness against upper respiratory infections, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
The disease is just over six months old and effective prophylactic or therapeutic agents are yet to be developed for COVID-19. Thus, in the absence of an effective therapy, scientific community has rationally considered the drug repurposing approach for the development of anti COVID-19 drugs. Various studies and clinical trials involving antimalarial drugs, anti-HIV drugs, anti-hepatitis drugs, anti-parasitic drug, anti-inflammatory drugs, the combination of antimalarial and macrolide antibiotic and few other molecules identified through drug repurposing are currently underway to combat COVID-19. Due emphasis is also given to develop novel corona vaccines for the prophylaxis and to identify drugs for adjunct/supportive therapy. Several medicinal plants along with their major phytochemicals exhibiting antiviral activity are identified for further exploration. It is anticipated that these natural products might also play an important role in combating COVID-19.
Use of drug repurposing strategy to develop anti COVID-19 drugs and exploring antiviral medicinal plants as adjunct or supportive therapy appears to be a viable option. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to work in parallel on different strategies such as genetic engineering, in silico approach, herbal remedies and drug repositioning to achieve the common goal of finding a safe and effective treatment for COVID-19 at the earliest.
一种新型冠状病毒疾病已蔓延至全球 213 个国家和地区。截至 2020 年 7 月 8 日傍晚，冠状病毒大流行已在全球范围内造成超过 548934 人死亡，确诊病例数量正以惊人的速度增加。因此，迫切需要尽早找到针对 COVID-19 的治疗方法或疫苗。本篇综述的目的是概述目前正在进行临床试验的已确定的可再利用的抗 COVID-19 药物。
通过各种基于网络的搜索引擎（如 Google、Google Scholar）和各种其他电子研究数据库（如 PubMed、Medline、MeSH 等）进行了全面的文献调查，以检索相关信息。本文简要综述了最近发表的文章、临床试验、世界卫生组织的 COVID-19 更新等的结果，以及作者的意见。抗病毒药用植物是根据其在中国/印度本土医学中的用途、传统用途、已发表的植物化学研究以及/或其对上呼吸道感染、严重急性呼吸综合征（SARS）或中东呼吸综合征（MERS）的有效性确定的。
该疾病仅出现了六个月多一点的时间，目前还没有针对 COVID-19 的有效预防或治疗药物。因此，在缺乏有效疗法的情况下，科学界已经合理考虑了药物再利用方法来开发抗 COVID-19 药物。目前正在进行各种涉及抗疟药物、抗 HIV 药物、抗肝炎药物、抗寄生虫药物、抗炎药物、抗疟药和大环内酯类抗生素联合以及通过药物再利用鉴定的其他一些分子的研究和临床试验，以对抗 COVID-19。还特别强调开发新型冠状病毒疫苗以进行预防，并确定辅助/支持性治疗的药物。还确定了几种具有抗病毒活性的药用植物及其主要植物化学物质，以供进一步研究。预计这些天然产物也可能在对抗 COVID-19 方面发挥重要作用。
使用药物再利用策略开发抗 COVID-19 药物并探索抗病毒药用植物作为辅助或支持性治疗似乎是一种可行的选择。因此，当务之急是并行开展不同策略，如基因工程、计算方法、草药疗法和药物再定位，以尽早实现找到 COVID-19 安全有效治疗方法的共同目标。
