Abstract:
With the global prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the development of anti-COVID-19 drugs is becoming more and more urgent. As there are no specific drugs available for COVID-19 currently, “new use of old drugs” has become one of the main anti-epidemic strategies adopted by many research institutions at home and abroad. On the basis of analyzing COVID-19 characteristics, infection mechanism and the similarities of SARS-CoV-2 (the pathogen of COVID-19) with SARS-CoV and other related RNA viruses, the antiviral drugs and therapies which may be useful to treat COVID-19 were analyzed and summarized, including virus-targeted drugs, host-targeted drugs, herbal medicine, stem cell therapy and RNAi therapy. The specific action mechanism of relevant drugs and therapies as well as their current application status in the treatment of COVID-19 were mainly elucidated, so as to provide certain reference for the development of effective drugs and treatment methods for COVID-19.