A Review on Repurposing Drugs for Treatment of Covid-19

Abstract

The newly emerged 2019 novel coronavirus is named as severe acute respiratory syndrome 2(SARS CoV-2). Till date, 1,757,393 cases have been observed in India and 37,452 deaths. COVID-19 has been now declared as pandemic and new treatments are urgently needed as we enter a phase beyond containment. In the absence of approved marketed drugs against coronavirus, the treatment and management of novel COVID-19 disease worldwide is a challenge. Developing new drugs from scratch is a lengthy process, and is thus impractical to face the immediate global challenge. Drugs repurposing is an emerging strategy where existing medicines having already been tested safe in humans, are redeployed to combat difficult to treat diseases. The direct virus targeted on antiviral agent target-specific nucleic acid or proteins of the virus or host based antiviral target either the host innate immune response or the cellular machineries that are crucial for viral infections. Both the approaches necessary interfere with the viral pathogenesis. Here, we will summarize the present status of antiviral, antibiotic drugs repurposing perspective for coronavirus in general and the SARS CoV-2 in particular. Some drugs such as ABT 450 which is active agent against hepatitis C, Acyclovir which is active against cytomegalovirus infection and more others such as Amprenavir for HIV, Arbidol for influenza, Brivudin for Herpes Zoster, etc.

Keywords: Coronavirus, drug repurposing SARS CoV-2, COVID-19, virus based drugs, ABT 450

Cite this Article

Kamble Sharad, Patil Amol, Chikkodi Pramod, Navale Sachin, Mujawar Alisha. A Review on Repurposing Drugs for Treatment of Covid-19. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Drug Formulation, Development and Production. 2020; 7(3): 16–22p.