Clinical development of antivirals against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants

Qiaoshuai Lan; Yan Yan; Guangxu Zhang; Shuai Xia; Jie Zhou; Lu Lu; Shibo Jiang

doi:10.1016/j.crmicr.2023.100208

Clinical development of antivirals against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants

Curr Res Microb Sci. 2023 Dec 2:6:100208. doi: 10.1016/j.crmicr.2023.100208. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Qiaoshuai Lan^{1

2}, Yan Yan¹, Guangxu Zhang¹, Shuai Xia¹, Jie Zhou^{2

3

4}, Lu Lu¹, Shibo Jiang¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/NHC/CAMS), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Frontiers Science Center of Pathogenic Microbes and Infection, Shanghai Institute of Infectious Disease and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
² Centre for Virology, Vaccinology and Therapeutics, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, Hong Kong, China.
³ Department of Microbiology, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.

Abstract

The unceasing global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) calls for the development of novel therapeutics. Although many newly developed antivirals and repurposed antivirals have been applied to the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), antivirals showing satisfactory clinical efficacy are few in number. In addition, the loss of sensitivity to variants of concern (VOCs) and lack of oral bioavailability have also limited the clinical application of some antivirals. These facts remind us to develop more potent and broad-spectrum antivirals with better pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic properties to fight against infections from SARS-CoV-2, its variants, and other human coronaviruses (HCoVs). In this review, we summarize the latest advancements in the clinical development of antivirals against infections by SARS-CoV-2 and its variants.

Keywords: Antivirals; COVID-19; Host factor; SARS-CoV-2; Variants; Viral factor.

Publication types

Review