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Review
. 2022 May 24;20(1):78.
doi: 10.1186/s43141-022-00353-0.

A review on drug repurposing in COVID-19: from antiviral drugs to herbal alternatives

Abas Sezer  1 , Mervisa Halilović-Alihodžić  1 , Annissa Rachel Vanwieren  1 , Adna Smajkan  2 , Amina Karić  1 , Husein Djedović  1 , Jasmin Šutković  3
Affiliations
Review

A review on drug repurposing in COVID-19: from antiviral drugs to herbal alternatives

Abas Sezer et al. J Genet Eng Biotechnol. .

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 is an illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Due to its rapid spread, in March 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared pandemic. Since the outbreak of pandemic many governments, scientists, and institutions started to work on new vaccines and finding of new and repurposing drugs. Drug repurposing is an excellent option for discovery of already used drugs, effective against COVID-19, lowering the cost of production, and shortening the period of delivery, especially when preclinical safety studies have already been performed. There are many approved drugs that showed significant results against COVID-19, like ivermectin and hydrochloroquine, including alternative treatment options against COVID-19, utilizing herbal medicine.

Short conclusion: This article summarized 11 repurposing drugs, their positive and negative health implications, along with traditional herbal alternatives, that harvest strong potential in efficient treatments options against COVID-19, with small or no significant side effects. Out of 11 repurposing drugs, four drugs are in status of emergency approval, most of them being in phase IV clinical trials. The first repurposing drug approved for clinical usage is remdesivir, whereas chloroquine and hydrochloroquine approval for emergency use was revoked by FDA for COVID-19 treatment in June 2020.

Keywords: COVID-19; Drug repurposing; Herbal medicine; Ivermectin; Remdesivir.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Conceptual diagram of drug repurposing steps
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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