Recent Updates in the Pharmacological Management of COVID-19

SARS CoV-2 is the causative organism of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), originated first in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The WHO does not endorse any drug as safe and effective in managing patients with COVID-19 at this point. Hence, numerous drugs approved for other illnesses are being used as repurposed drugs to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection patients. The databases such as Medline/PubMed Central/PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Directory of open access journals (DOAJ), and reference lists have been searched to discover articles applicable to pharmacological management of COVID-19. The SARS-CoV-2 infection could be managed by drugs inhibiting the viral entry and viral fusion like umifenovir, baricitinib, camostat mesylate, and nafamostat mesylate, the drugs preventing the viral replication such as favipiravir, remdesivir, lopinavir/ritonavir, ribavirin, sofosbuvir and chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, and by some of the investigational drugs including nitazoxanide, ivermectin, emetine, and auranofin.