Drug Design, Development and Therapy (Mar 2022)

A Systematic Review of the Global Intervention for SARS-CoV-2 Combating: From Drugs Repurposing to Molnupiravir Approval

  • Ashour NA,
  • Abo Elmaaty A,
  • Sarhan AA,
  • Elkaeed EB,
  • Moussa AM,
  • Erfan IA,
  • Al-Karmalawy AA

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 16
pp. 685 – 715

Abstract

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Nada A Ashour,1,* Ayman Abo Elmaaty,2,* Amany A Sarhan,3 Eslam B Elkaeed,4 Ahmed M Moussa,3 Ibrahim Ali Erfan,5 Ahmed A Al-Karmalawy3 1Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Horus University-Egypt, New Damietta, 34518, Egypt; 2Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Port Said University, Port Said, 42526, Egypt; 3Department of Pharmaceutical Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Horus University-Egypt, New Damietta, 34518, Egypt; 4Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, AlMaarefa University, Ad Diriyah, 13713, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 5Department of Pharmacology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Horus University-Egypt, New Damietta, 34518, Egypt*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Ahmed A Al-Karmalawy, Email [email protected]: The rising outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 continues to unfold all over the world. The development of novel effective antiviral drugs to fight against SARS-CoV-2 is a time cost. As a result, some specific FDA-approved drugs have already been repurposed and authorized for COVID-19 treatment. The repurposed drugs used were either antiviral or non-antiviral drugs. Accordingly, the present review thoroughly focuses on the repurposing efficacy of these drugs including clinical trials experienced, the combination therapies used, the novel methods followed for treatment, and their future perspective. Therefore, drug repurposing was regarded as an effective avenue for COVID-19 treatment. Recently, molnupiravir is a prodrug antiviral medication that was approved in the United Kingdom in November 2021 for the treatment of COVID-19. On the other hand, PF-07321332 is an oral antiviral drug developed by Pfizer. For the treatment of COVID-19, the PF-07321332/ritonavir combination medication is used in Phase III studies and was marketed as Paxlovid. Herein, we represented the almost history of combating COVID-19 from repurposing to the recently available oral anti-SARS-CoV-2 candidates, as a new hope to end the current pandemic.Graphical Abstract: Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, drug repurposing, clinical trials, molnupiravir, paxlovid

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