Investigational Drugs and Therapies Used Duri...

Investigational Drugs and Therapies Used During COVID- 19 Treatment

Author Name : Mithlesh Tiwari, Poonam Rawat, Anshu Gautam , Sweta Trived

ABSTRACT Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus and defined as illness caused by a novel coronavirus now called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; formerly called 2019-nCoV). This Virus was first identified amid an outbreak of respiratory illness cases in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. It was initially reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019. On January 30, 2020, the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global health emergency. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, its first such designation since declaring H1N1 influenza a pandemic in 2009. Till today no drugs or biologics have been proven to be effective for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19. Remdesivir gained emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA on May 1, 2020, based on preliminary data showing a faster time to recovery of hospitalized patients with severe disease. Various antiviral agents, immunotherapies, and vaccines continue to be investigated and developed as potential therapies. Searching for effective therapies for COVID-19 infection is a complex process. Existing drugs with welldocumented adverse effects (eg, hydroxychloroquine). Drug shortages during the pandemic transcend off-label prescribing of potential treatments for COVID-19. Drugs that are necessary for ventilated and critically ill patients and widespread use of inhalers used for COPD or asthma are in demand. The WHO has started an ambitious global "megatrial" called solidarity during which confirmed cases of COVD-19 are randomized to standard care or one of four active treatment arms (remdesivir, chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir, or lopinavir/ritonavir plus interferon beta-1a).