A Mini Review on Discovery and Synthesis of Remdesivir as an Effective and Promising Drug against COVID-19

E Zarenezhad; S Behrouz; M Farjam; M N Soltani Rad

doi:10.1134/S1068162021030183

A Mini Review on Discovery and Synthesis of Remdesivir as an Effective and Promising Drug against COVID-19

Russ J Bioorg Chem. 2021;47(3):609-621. doi: 10.1134/S1068162021030183. Epub 2021 Jun 11.

Authors

E Zarenezhad¹, S Behrouz², M Farjam^{1

3}, M N Soltani Rad²

Affiliations

¹ Noncommunicable Diseases Research Center, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran.
² Medicinal Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry Shiraz University of Technology, 71555-313 Shiraz, Iran.
³ Department of Medical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran.

Abstract

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) as a new human coronavirus has begun spreading over Wuhan City/China in December 2019, and then spread rapidly worldwide, causing pneumonia called COVID-19. Up to now, the scientists have extensively attempted to find effective vaccines and drugs for treatment of coronavirus infections. To this end, various pharmaceutical agents are undergoing the clinical studies to assess their potency and efficacy against COVID-19. Based on the new findings, the U.S. food and drug administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorization for remdesivir as an effective anti-viral for remedying the hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Recently, the European medicines agency has authorized the use of remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19. Remdesivir as a nucleotide prodrug exhibits broad-spectrum antiviral activities against RNA viruses. In this short review, we have rendered a brief overview of discovery and synthesis for remdesivir.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus; remdesivir; synthesis.