Viruses (Sep 2020)

Coronavirus Antiviral Research Database (CoV-RDB): An Online Database Designed to Facilitate Comparisons between Candidate Anti-Coronavirus Compounds

  • Philip L. Tzou,
  • Kaiming Tao,
  • Janin Nouhin,
  • Soo-Yon Rhee,
  • Benjamin D. Hu,
  • Shruti Pai,
  • Neil Parkin,
  • Robert W. Shafer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/v12091006
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 9
p. 1006

Abstract

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Background: To prioritize the development of antiviral compounds, it is necessary to compare their relative preclinical activity and clinical efficacy. Methods: We reviewed in vitro, animal model, and clinical studies of candidate anti-coronavirus compounds and placed extracted data in an online relational database. Results: As of August 2020, the Coronavirus Antiviral Research Database (CoV-RDB; covdb.stanford.edu) contained over 2800 cell culture, entry assay, and biochemical experiments, 259 animal model studies, and 73 clinical studies from over 400 published papers. SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV account for 85% of the data. Approximately 75% of experiments involved compounds with known or likely mechanisms of action, including monoclonal antibodies and receptor binding inhibitors (21%), viral protease inhibitors (17%), miscellaneous host-acting inhibitors (10%), polymerase inhibitors (9%), interferons (7%), fusion inhibitors (5%), and host protease inhibitors (5%). Of 975 compounds with known or likely mechanism, 135 (14%) are licensed in the U.S. for other indications, 197 (20%) are licensed outside the U.S. or are in human trials, and 595 (61%) are pre-clinical investigational compounds. Conclusion: CoV-RDB facilitates comparisons between different candidate antiviral compounds, thereby helping scientists, clinical investigators, public health officials, and funding agencies prioritize the most promising compounds and repurposed drugs for further development.

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