Artesunate: could be an alternative drug to chloroquine in COVID-19 treatment?

Abstract

Abstract SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus)-CV-2 (2019-nCov), which showed up in China in December 2019 and spread all over the world, has becomed a serious health problem. An effective, safe and proven treatment has not yet been found. Chloroquine has been recommended by some authors to be used for the treatment of patients infected with this virus however chloroquine may have side effects and drug resistance problems. Artesunate is a semisynthetic derivative of artemisinin, an antimalarial drug. Artesunate was thought to be an effective treatment for covid-19 because of its anti-inflammatory activity, NF-κB (nuclear Factor kappa B)-coronavirus effect and chloroquine-like endocytosis inhibition mechanism.

Keywords

• SARS-CoV-2
• Choroquine
• Artesunate