Table 2.
Potential antiviral drugs for COVID-19.
| Potential therapeutic agents | Target of inhibition | Indication/purposes | Preliminary studies | Application for COVID-19 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case studies | Remarks | ||||
| Umifenovir | Entry receptor | Antiviral drug on influenza; not yet tested for coronaviruses | N/A | Compared with favipiravir (see favipiravir) | Currently being evaluated in China |
| Chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine | Entry receptor | Antiviral drug on malaria; not yet tested for coronaviruses | In vitro antiviral activities against 2019-nCoV on primate cells [135, 138] | Ongoing | Currently being evaluated in China and the United States |
| Camostat mesylate | Host protease | Antiviral drug on pancreatic diseases; not yet tested for coronaviruses | In vitro antiviral activities against 2019-nCoV in human lung cancer cells [113] | Not known | None |
| Lopinavir-ritonavir | Viral protease | Used in combination with ribavirin for SARS and MERS | N/A | 199 hospitalized patients, Wuhan, China (99 lopinavir+ritonavir+100 standard care) [161] | Currently being evaluated in China and the United States. However, found to be ineffective based on preliminary findings |
| Darunavir | Viral protease | Antiretroviral drug; not yet tested for coronaviruses | N/A | Not known | None |
| Ribavirin | Genome replication | Used in combination with lopinavir-ritonavir for SARS and MERS | N/A | Not known | Currently being evaluated in China |
| Favipiravir | Genome replication | Antiviral drug on influenza; not yet tested for coronaviruses | N/A | 240 patients in Hubei province, China (120 favipiravir+120 arbidol) (preprint) [184] | Higher recovery rate compared to those treated with umifenovir (arbidol) |
| Remdesivir | Genome replication | The new antiviral drug initially developed for Ebola | In vitro antiviral activities toward 2019-nCoV on primate cells [138] | Ongoing | Under clinical trials |
| Carolacton | Genome replication | Potential antibacterial compound against biofilm formation of Streptococcus mutans and growth of Streptococcus pneumoniae [192, 193] | In vitro antiviral activities against bat kidney cells [190] | Not known | None |
| Ivermectin | Genome replication | Antiparasitic drug (broad-spectrum). | In vitro antiviral activities against 2019-nCoV on primate cells [197] | Not known | None |
N/A: not available. Note: “coronaviruses” only target SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV.