Traditional Chinese Medicine as Potential Therapy for COVID-19

Am J Chin Med. 2020;48(6):1263-1277. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X20500627. Epub 2020 Sep 9.

Abstract

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, causing the disease COVID-19, spread from Wuhan throughout China and has infected people over 200 countries. Thus far, more than 3,400,000 cases and 240,000 deaths have occurred worldwide, and the coronavirus pandemic continues to grip the globe. While numbers of cases in China have been steadying, the number of infections outside China is increasing at a worrying pace. We face an urgent need to control the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, which is currently expanding to a global pandemic. Efforts have focused on testing antiviral drugs and vaccines, but there is currently no treatment specifically approved. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is grounded in empirical observations and the Chinese people use TCM to overcome these sorts of plagues many times in thousands of years of history. Currently, the Chinese National Health Commission recommended a TCM prescription of Qing-Fei-Pai-Du-Tang (QFPDT) in the latest version of the "Diagnosis and Treatment guidelines of COVID-19" which has been reported to provide reliable effects for COVID-19. While doubts about TCM still exist today, this review paper will describe the rationalities that QFPDT is likely to bring a safe and effective treatment of COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Review; SARS-CoV-2; Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adrenal Cortex Hormones / therapeutic use
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / therapeutic use
  • Antiviral Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Betacoronavirus
  • COVID-19
  • COVID-19 Drug Treatment
  • Chloroquine / therapeutic use
  • Coronavirus Infections / drug therapy*
  • Coronavirus Infections / immunology
  • Cytokine Release Syndrome / drug therapy
  • Cytokine Release Syndrome / immunology
  • Drug Combinations
  • Drugs, Chinese Herbal / therapeutic use*
  • Humans
  • Indoles / therapeutic use
  • Janus Kinase Inhibitors / therapeutic use
  • Lopinavir / therapeutic use
  • Medicine, Chinese Traditional
  • Pandemics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / drug therapy*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / immunology
  • Ritonavir / therapeutic use
  • SARS-CoV-2

Substances

  • Adrenal Cortex Hormones
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
  • Antiviral Agents
  • Drug Combinations
  • Drugs, Chinese Herbal
  • Indoles
  • Janus Kinase Inhibitors
  • lopinavir-ritonavir drug combination
  • qing fei pai du tang
  • Lopinavir
  • Chloroquine
  • umifenovir
  • tocilizumab
  • Ritonavir