Interferon-β: treatment option against COVID-19

Abstract

In December 2019, an increasing number of cases of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that were linked to seafood wholesale market have identified in Wuhan, China. Taxonomist declared 2019-nCoV as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus- 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease termed as COVID-19. Importantly, there is no approved drugs or vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Current review is related to address treatment option for COVID-19. Interferon-β have shown significant activity against previous outbreak of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. Faced with an ongoing pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 and lack of effective treatment options, identifying compounds with antiviral activity has become a high priority. Efficacy of these treatments is still unclear. Therefore, final analysis is important to develop better treatment strategies for ongoing pandemic.

Keywords

• Coronavirus
• antiviral agents
• Interferon-β
• SARS-CoV-2
• COVID-19.