Insights on Various Antiviral Drugs for Treating Patients with COVID-19

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was the cause of the first pandemic of the twenty-first century, which began in Hubei Province, China, in late December 2019. Researchers across the globe are engaged in developing vaccines and therapeutics to manage COVID-19, but the lack of effective vaccines or drugs with proven therapeutic potential is still a worrying situation, with the total number of cases crossing 34 million and nearly one million deaths as on October 2, 2020. Several existing antiviral drugs, which include nucleoside analogs, protease inhibitors, and viral polymerase inhibitors, have been investigated for potential activity against SARS-CoV-2. Apart from antivirals, several antibiotics and antiparasitic drugs have also shown efficacy in impeding viral propagation and improving related health complications in the host. Virus-induced immunopathology due to the cytokine storm has been tackled using drugs targeting specific cytokines to curtail the symptoms and assist recovery. The repurposed drugs and combined therapies are being evaluated using several drug combinations to lessen the viral load in infected patients. Alongside synthetic drug molecules, natural compounds found to exhibit important immunomodulatory effects in helping the host’s immune system to fight SARS-CoV-2 infection are being considered. This chapter provides comprehensive information on the ongoing research and developments focusing on antiviral therapeutics, their mechanisms, and the status of their efficacy in managing COVID-19 and minimizing the rate of viral infection along with their prospects and obstacles.