Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Jun 2;24(6):940-976.
doi: 10.1021/acs.oprd.0c00233. eCollection 2020 Jun 19.

Quest for a COVID-19 Cure by Repurposing Small-Molecule Drugs: Mechanism of Action, Clinical Development, Synthesis at Scale, and Outlook for Supply

Chris De Savi  1 , David L Hughes  2 , Lisbet Kvaerno  3
Affiliations
Review

Quest for a COVID-19 Cure by Repurposing Small-Molecule Drugs: Mechanism of Action, Clinical Development, Synthesis at Scale, and Outlook for Supply

Chris De Savi et al. Org Process Res Dev. .

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred an intense global effort to repurpose existing approved drugs for its treatment. In this review, we highlight the development of seven small-molecule drugs that are currently being assessed in clinical trials for the treatment of COVID-19. Three sections are presented for each drug: (1) history, mechanism of action, and status of clinical trials; (2) scalable synthetic routes and final forms; and (3) outlook for supply should clinical trials show treatment efficacy. A brief overview of diagnostic testing and vaccine development is also presented.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

LinkOut - more resources