A comprehensive review on the global efforts on vaccines and repurposed drugs for combating COVID-19

Abstract

The recently discovered coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, is a highly contagious and potentially lethal viral infection that was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Since the beginning of the pandemic, an unprecedented number of COVID-19 vaccine candidates have been investigated for their potential to manage the pandemic. Herein, we reviewed vaccine development and the associated research effort, both traditional and forward-looking, to demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of their technology, in addition to their efficacy limitations against mutant SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, we report repurposed drug discovery, which mainly focuses on virus-based and host-based targets, as well as their inhibitors. SARS-CoV-2 targets include the main protease (M^pro), and RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRp), which are the most well-studied and conserved across coronaviruses, enabling the development of broad-spectrum inhibitors of these enzymes.

Keywords: COVID-19; Mutations; Repurposing drugs; SARS-CoV-2; Small molecules drugs; Vaccines.