Antiviral drugs against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection triggering the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic

Abstract

So far, lots of analyses have been conducted to invent the appropriate therapeutic targets for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The category and the strategies for treating the virus are described in this review together with mentioning some specific drugs. Of them, saikosaponin possesses affinity of the drug toward nonstructural protein 15 and the spike glycoprotein of the SARS-CoV-2. The nucleotide inhibitors such as sofosbuvir, ribavirin, galidesivir, remdesivir, favipiravir, cefuroxime, tenofovir, and hydroxychloroquine (HCHL), setrobuvir, YAK, and IDX-184 were found to be effective in binding to SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. From the antimalarial and anti-inflammatory category, chloroquine and its derivative HCHL have already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The other drugs such as favipiravir and lopinavir/ritonavir under the antiviral category, the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (the renin-angiotensin system inhibitors), remdesivir (RNA polymerase inhibitor) from antiviral category, cepharanthine from anti-inflammatory category, etc., have been pointed based on the previous literature published. Besides, the assessment of the drug repositioning candidates with the related targets is also significant for the viral mitigation.