Global resource available for COVID-19 scientists.
Experts in Biomedical Sciences have created a database that lists vital information about potential treatments for Covid-19 and possible drug targets – molecules in the body linked to the disease that could benefit from new therapies. The resource is available to scientists worldwide to assist the global effort against the coronavirus.
Given the novelty of SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19), and the lack of proven therapies, a wide variety of strategies are being employed to combat this worldwide epidemic.
Many of these emerging strategies rely on repurposing existing drugs, and others are completely new, but all rely on existing scientific evidence of mechanistic approaches that are effective against either similar viral infections or the serious symptoms that are caused by COVID-19.
- The effects of existing antiviral medications are being evaluated
- The inflammatory aspects of the disease are being targeted using existing medications including glucocorticoids, COX inhibitors, immunosuppressants and immunomodulators
- Strategies to block interaction between the virus and ACE2 on host cells, or inhibition of spike protein activation are being explored
- Novel inhibitors of the main CoV protease are being developed
- Mucolytic drugs and drugs to counter pulmonary edema are in clinical trials
All of these tactics are intended to mitigate against COVID-19 and provide a window during which vaccine development can progress (with the caveat that the search for vaccines to prevent infection by existing circulating coronaviruses has been notoriously unsuccessful).
The tables provide information gathered from various sources, and aim to cover as many of the pharmacological strategies being considered as we could find.
Our ligands (therapeutics) table excludes traditional natural product-based medicines, blood-derived products (e.g. serum from recovered patients and stem cells), investigational vaccines, antibacterials for secondary infections and supportive treatments (oxygen therapy).