Table 2.

Summary of popular drugs under consideration for repositioning for COVID-19.

Drug	Initial Purpose	Side-Effects in COVID-19 Patients	Potential Therapeutic Mode of Action for SARS-CoV-2	Clinical Trials for COVID-19	Reference
Chloroquine/Hydroxychloroquine	Antimalarial medication	Side-effects may arise with toxic dosage for patients with cardiovascular disorders Excessive prolong in QTc intervals which leads to ventricular arrhythmias Gastrointestinal upset Retinal toxicity and myopathy	Impairs replication of virus by interfering with endosome-mediated viral entry or other pH-dependent viral replication steps	Currently ongoing	[101,102]
Favipiravir	Broad-spectrum inhibitor of viral RNA, i.e., Influenza	Raises serum uric acid Diarrhoea	Inhibits viral RbRp in the genome replication process	currently ongoing	[23,89,103]
Ivermectin	Broad-spectrum anti-parasitic agent	Not reported for COVID-19. Predicted as: Nausea, rashes, dizziness Fever and tachycardia	Nuclear transport inhibitory activity of viral proteins	In vitro studies	[90,104]
Remdesivir	Antiviral activity against RNA viruses, i.e., Ebola virus	Abnormal liver function Renal impairment Hypotension, diarrhoea and rashes	Acts as RbRp inhibitor to target viral genome replication process	Currently ongoing	[105,106,107]
Baricitinib	An orally bioavailable inhibitor of Janus kinases 1 and 2 (JAK1/2), with potential anti-inflammatory, immunomodulating and antineoplastic activities. Typically used to treat autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis.	Not reported for COVID-19. Previous original indication. Nausea Blurred vision Cold sores Shingles Possible increase in upper respiratory tract infection Hypercholesterolemia Hypertension Urinary tract infection	A high-affinity NAK inhibitor, especially on AP2-associated protein kinase 1 (AAK1), a pivotal regulator of clathrin-mediated endocytosis involved in viral entry at the lungs	Currently ongoing	[39,108]