Challenges for Drug Repurposing in the COVID-19 Pandemic Era

Janet Sultana, Salvatore Crisafulli, Flic Gabbay, Elizabeth Lynn, Saad Shakir, Gianluca Trifirò, Janet Sultana, Salvatore Crisafulli, Flic Gabbay, Elizabeth Lynn, Saad Shakir, Gianluca Trifirò

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has affected an estimated 16 million persons and caused 0.6 million deaths worldwide by September 2020. The pandemic has led to a rush to repurpose existing drugs, although the underlying evidence base is of variable quality. The improving knowledge of the virology and clinical presentation of COVID-19 is leading to a broadening pool of potential pharmacological targets. The aim of this review is to describe regulatory and pharmacological aspects of drug repurposing and to identify drugs proposed for repurposing in COVID-19 based on registered clinical trials, discussing the evidence to support their use in the treatment of this disease. The challenges of the correct interpretation of existing pre-clinical/clinical evidence as well as the generation of new evidence concerning drug repurposing in COVID-19 will also be discussed. Clinical Trial Registration: https://ichgcp.net/clinical-trials-registry/NCT04321174" title="See in ClinicalTrials.gov">NCT04321174, NCT04342663, NCT04280705, NCT04244591, NCT04359329, NCT04348695, NCT04304313, NCT043505931.

Keywords: COVID-19; coronavirus; drug repositioning; drug repurposing; pandemic.

Copyright © 2020 Sultana, Crisafulli, Gabbay, Lynn, Shakir and Trifirò.

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