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COVID-19 Therapeutics: An Update on Effective Treatments Against Infection With SARS-CoV-2 Variants

  • Bill Thaddeus Padasas (Department of Pharmacy, Korea University College of Pharmacy) ;
  • Erica Espano (Department of Pharmacy, Korea University College of Pharmacy) ;
  • Sang-Hyun Kim (Department of Pharmacy, Korea University College of Pharmacy) ;
  • Youngcheon Song (Department of Pharmacy, Sahmyook University) ;
  • Chong-Kil Lee (Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, Chungbuk National University) ;
  • Jeong-Ki Kim (Department of Pharmacy, Korea University College of Pharmacy)
  • Received : 2022.12.21
  • Accepted : 2023.02.20
  • Published : 2023.04.30
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Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is one of the most consequential global health crises in over a century. Since its discovery in 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to mutate into different variants and sublineages, rendering previously potent treatments and vaccines ineffective. With significant strides in clinical and pharmaceutical research, different therapeutic strategies continue to be developed. The currently available treatments can be broadly classified based on their potential targets and molecular mechanisms. Antiviral agents function by disrupting different stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection, while immune-based treatments mainly act on the human inflammatory response responsible for disease severity. In this review, we discuss some of the current treatments for COVID-19, their mode of actions, and their efficacy against variants of concern. This review highlights the need to constantly evaluate COVID-19 treatment strategies to protect high risk populations and fill in the gaps left by vaccination.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2022R1A2C1011553 and 2019R1A6A1A03031807), the National Institute of Health research project (project No. 2022ER170300), and the Korea University grant series (K2207131, L2204191 and K2225231). Figure illustration was adapted from "Coronavirus Replication Cycle", by BioRender.com (2022). Retrieved from https://app.biorender.com/biorender-templates.

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