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Review
. 2024 Aug 20;9(35):36858-36864.
doi: 10.1021/acsomega.4c05357. eCollection 2024 Sep 3.

Repurposed Drugs during the Outbreak of Pandemic COVID-19: A Mini-Review on Their Molecular Structures and Hit-and-Trial Results

Thangjam Linda Devi  1 , Mayanglambam Maneeta Devi  1 , Monika Okram  2 , Okram Mukherjee Singh  1
Affiliations
Review

Repurposed Drugs during the Outbreak of Pandemic COVID-19: A Mini-Review on Their Molecular Structures and Hit-and-Trial Results

Thangjam Linda Devi et al. ACS Omega. .

Abstract

One of the most significant threats to global public health in the 21st century is the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2. It rapidly turned into a global pandemic after it was identified in late 2019, and the World Health Organization announced the end of the pandemic on May 5, 2023. Current strategies for managing this disease include vaccination and repurposing antimalarial and antibiotic medications to alleviate symptoms like fever and throat pain, which are associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Antiviral drugs such as chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, remdesivir, and favipiravir have been repurposed for the treatment of COVID-19. They were previously recommended for treating SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. However, the inefficacy and adverse side effects of these repurposed drugs led to a decrease in their widespread use in treating COVID-19 patients. The lack of approved drugs for combating this coronavirus and its unpredictable variants remains a significant challenge.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Structure of chloroquine.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Structure of hydroxychloroquine.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Structure of favipiravir.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Structure of umifenovir.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Structure of lopinavir.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Structure of ritonavir.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Structure of nirmatrelvir.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Structure of molnupiravir.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Structure of remdesivir.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Structure of ivermectin.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Structure of azithromycin.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Structure of dexamethasone.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Structure of heparin.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Structure of baricitinib.
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