Table 1.

Treatment options available for COVID‐19.

Compounds	Virus target	Functions	Representative References
General treatments for viral infection
Nutritional interventions
Vitamin A	Measles virus, avian coronavirus	Prevention of lung infection.	(Semba 1999)
B vitamins	MERS‐CoV; ventilator‐induced lung injury	Enhance their immune system	(Keil, Bowen et al., 2016)
Vitamin C	Avian coronavirus; lower respiratory tract infections	Act as an antioxidant	(Atherton, Kratzing et al., 1978)
Vitamin D	Bovine coronavirus	Maintaining bone integrity	(Nonnecke, McGill et al., 2014)
Vitamin E	Coxsackievirus, bovine coronavirus	Reducing oxidative stress	(Beck, Kolbeck et al., 1994)
PUFAa	Influenza virus, human immunodeficiency virus	Anti‐inflammatory and pro‐inflammatory effects.	(Morita, Kuba et al., 2013)
Selenium	Influenza virus, avian coronavirus; viral mutations	Defense against infectious diseases	(Rayman 2012)
Zinc	Measles virus, SARS‐CoV	Maintaining immune system	(Te Velthuis, van den Worm et al., 2010)
Iron	Viral mutations	Development of recurrent acute respiratory infections	(Wessling-Resnick 2018)
Immunoenhancers
Interferons	SARS‐CoV, MERS‐CoV	Immune response to virus infection.	(Momattin, Al-Ali et al., 2018)
Intravenous gammaglobulin	SARS‐CoV	Increase of viscosity in hypercoagulable states	(Lew, Kwek et al., 2003)
Thymosin α‐1	SARS‐CoV	Increase resistance to glucocorticoid‐induced death	(Baumann, Badamchian et al., 1997)
Thymopentin	hepatitis B	Restore antibody production	(Duchateau, Servais et al., 1985)
Levamisole	SARS‐CoV	Immunostimulant agent or immunosuppressive agent	(Joffe, Sukha et al., 1983)
Cyclosporine A	SARS‐CoV, avian infectious bronchitis virus	Treatment of autoimmune disorders	(Luo, Luo et al., 2004)
Coronavirus‐specific treatments
Coronavirus protease inhibitors
Chymotrypsin‐like (3C‐like) inhibitors
Cinanserin	SARS‐CoV	Serotonin receptor antagonist	(Chen, Gui et al., 2005)
Flavonoids	SARS‐CoV/MERS‐CoV	Antioxidant effects/antiviral abilities	(Diwan, Ninawe et al., 2017)
Papain‐like protease (PLP) inhibitors
Diarylheptanoids	SARS‐CoV	Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumor	(Park, Jeong et al., 2012)
Spike (S) protein‐angiotensin‐converting enzyme‐2 (ACE2) blockers
Human monoclonal antibody	SARS‐CoV	Treatment of many solid tumors	(Sui, Li et al., 2004)
Chloroquine	SARS‐CoV	Prevention of malaria in adults	(Savarino, Boelaert et al., 2003)
Emodin	SARS‐CoV	Pancreatic disease, inflammatory, and diabetes	(Vickers 2017)
Promazine	SARS‐CoV	Using in paranoid and manic-depressive conditions,	(Cauwenberghs, Feijge et al., 2006)
Nicotianamine	SARS‐CoV	To reduce the infection	(Cauwenberghs, Feijge et al., 2006)
Antiviral treatments
Ribavirin	SARS‐CoV	Treatment of hepatitis C	(Ksiazek, Erdman et al., 2003)
(LPV)b/(RTV)c (Kaletra)	MERS‐CoV	Treatment of HIV infection	(Tsang and Zhong 2003)
Remdesivir	SARS‐CoV/MERS‐CoV	Treatment of Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus	(Yamamoto, Yang et al., 2004)
Nelfinavir	SARS‐CoV	Treatment of HIV	(Mohanasundaram and Sekhar 2018)
Arbidol	SARS‐CoV	Treatment for influenza infection	(Khamitov, Loginova et al., 2008)
Nitric oxide	SARS‐CoV	Treatment of inflammatory airway disease	(Robbins and Grisham 1997)

^aOmega‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acid.

^bLopinavir.

^CRitonavir.