Citation

Saber-Ayad M, Saleh MA, Abu-Gharbieh E. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2020; 13(5).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, MDPI)

DOI

10.3390/ph13050096

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

On 11 March 2020, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was defined by the World Health Organization as a pandemic. Severe acute respiratory syndrome-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the newly evolving human coronavirus infection that causes COVID-19, and it first appeared in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and spread rapidly all over the world. COVID-19 is being increasingly investigated through virology, epidemiology, and clinical management strategies. There is currently no established consensus on the standard of care in the pharmacological treatment of COVID-19 patients. However, certain medications suggested for other diseases have been shown to be potentially effective for treating this infection, though there has yet to be clear evidence. Therapies include new agents that are currently tested in several clinical trials, in addition to other medications that have been repurposed as antiviral and immune-modulating therapies. Previous high-morbidity human coronavirus epidemics such as the 2003 SARS-CoV and the 2012 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) prompted the identification of compounds that could theoretically be active against the emerging coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, advances in molecular biology techniques and computational analysis have allowed for the better recognition of the virus structure and the quicker screening of chemical libraries to suggest potential therapies. This review aims to summarize rationalized pharmacotherapy considerations in COVID-19 patients in order to serve as a tool for health care professionals at the forefront of clinical care during this pandemic. All the reviewed therapies require either additional drug development or randomized large-scale clinical trials to be justified for clinical use. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Language: en

Keywords

human; COVID-19; suicide; nephrotoxicity; insomnia; abdominal pain; depression; kidney disease; pancreatitis; vomiting; mental disease; symptomatology; tachycardia; unclassified drug; neutropenia; thrombocytopenia; headache; somnolence; vertigo; sleep disorder; drug mechanism; gastrointestinal symptom; hot flush; onchocerciasis; cardiotoxicity; drug safety; interferon; heart muscle conduction disturbance; drug efficacy; diarrhea; nausea; leukopenia; hypotension; irritability; acute kidney failure; unindexed drug; eosinophilia; lymphocytopenia; rash; hypertension; side effect; infection; asthenia; face edema; hyperuricemia; QT prolongation; anemia; flu like syndrome; myalgia; pruritus; ribavirin; alanine aminotransferase; aspartate aminotransferase; liver toxicity; hematologic disease; gastrointestinal disease; hypoglycemia; oseltamivir; creatinine blood level; ataxia; concentration loss; hypothyroidism; dyspnea; coughing; Chloroquine; thorax pain; dipeptidyl carboxypeptidase inhibitor; antivirus agent; pneumonia; dizziness; thymosin alpha1; urea nitrogen blood level; thrombosis; liver disease; Article; hyperthermia; injection site inflammation; incubation time; chill; hyperkalemia; angiotensin receptor antagonist; jaundice; alanine aminotransferase blood level; aspartate aminotransferase blood level; chloroquine; blurred vision; angina pectoris; ECG abnormality; peripheral edema; opportunistic infection; azithromycin; lopinavir plus ritonavir; liver function test; Interferons; hypersensitivity; hydroxychloroquine; retinopathy; ivermectin; fingolimod; immunoglobulin; bevacizumab; antiviral therapy; faintness; eculizumab; nose disease; hyperplasia; urinary urgency; tocilizumab; malignant neoplasm; coronavirus disease 2019; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; ACE2; baricitinib; Baricitinib; camostat; camrelizumab; cobicistat plus darunavir; favipiravir; Favipiravir; hemolytic uremic syndrome; Lopinavir; meningococcosis; meplazumab; myocardial disease; paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria; reactive skin capillary hyperplasia; remdesivir; Remdesivir; ruxolitinib; sarilumab; SARS-CoV-2; sinus pain; stuffy nose; TMPRSS2; transient tachycardia; umifenovir; virostatic activity; virus morphology