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Review
. 2021 Jul 14;13(7):1077.
doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics13071077.

Inhalation Delivery for the Treatment and Prevention of COVID-19 Infection

Basanth Babu Eedara  1 , Wafaa Alabsi  1   2 , David Encinas-Basurto  1 , Robin Polt  2 , Julie G Ledford  3   4   5 , Heidi M Mansour  1   5   6
Affiliations
Review

Inhalation Delivery for the Treatment and Prevention of COVID-19 Infection

Basanth Babu Eedara et al. Pharmaceutics. .

Abstract

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is caused by coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and has produced a global pandemic. As of 22 June 2021, 178 million people have been affected worldwide, and 3.87 million people have died from COVID-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States, COVID-19 virus is primarily transmitted between people through respiratory droplets and contact routes. Since the location of initial infection and disease progression is primarily through the lungs, the inhalation delivery of drugs directly to the lungs may be the most appropriate route of administration for treating COVID-19. This review article aims to present possible inhalation therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of COVID-19 symptoms. This review covers the comparison between SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV/MERS, inhalation therapeutics for the treatment of COVID-19 symptoms, and vaccines for preventing infection, as well as the current clinical status of inhaled therapeutics and vaccines.

Keywords: COVID-19; clinical status; inhalation delivery; inhalation therapeutics; respiratory vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
An overview of pulmonary drug delivery and its advantages.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical structures (drawn using CambridgeSoft, Cambridge, MA, USA) of inhaled COVID-19 therapeutics.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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