Current Treatment Methods for Coronavirus Disease-19

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak has created health havoc all over the world. Till now, no definite treatment has been found to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, probably due to a poor understanding of the molecular mechanism of this infection. As it’s a health devastating situation, so due to lack of proper time for research, clinicians all over the world are exploring the already approved drug such as lopinavir, ritonavir, chloroquine (CQ), hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), azithromycin (AZ), remdesivir, favipiravir, ribavirin, nitozoxanide, interferon- α (IFN), arbidol, corticosteroids, ivermectin, teicoplanin, herbal drugs, etc. for antiviral activity. Previous studies suggest that these drugs act by different mechanisms such as prevention of entry and fusion of the virus with host cell by blocking angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE-2) receptor and increasing endosomal pH respectively, inhibition of RNA polymerase and protease enzyme, inhibition of inflammatory pathway by blocking toll-like receptors (TLR’s), inhibition of RNA synthesis, interference of glycosylation of cellular receptor, suppression of immune response, etc. Besides these drugs, few humanized monoclonal antibodies such as tocilizumab and sarilumab are also shown to be effective against COVID-19 by blocking interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptors. In addition to these drugs, convalescent plasma therapy is also being used to treat COVID-19 patients. Focus is on the development of a vaccine for COVID-19 at the earliest and indeed, many vaccines are in various stages of the development process, with some under clinical trials. This review gives an exhaustive view of current therapeutic strategies for the management of COVID-19.

Keywords: ACE-2, Arbidol, Azithromycin, COVID-19, Corticosteroids, Favipiravir, Hydroxychloroquine, IL-6, Immune response, Interferon-α, Ivermectin, Lopinavir, Monoclonal antibodies, Plasma therapy, Protease, Remdesivir, Ribavirin, Ritonavir, RNA polymerase, TLR’s, Tocilizumab.