Clinically Evaluated COVID-19 Drugs with Therapeutic Potential for Biological Warfare Agents
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak resulted in hundreds of millions of coronavirus cases, as well as millions of deaths worldwide. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the disease resulting from exposure to this pathogen, is characterized, among other features,...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Microorganisms |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/11/6/1577 |
| _version_ | 1827736345317998592 |
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| author | Ido-David Dechtman Ran Ankory Keren Sokolinsky Esther Krasner Libby Weiss Yoav Gal |
| author_facet | Ido-David Dechtman Ran Ankory Keren Sokolinsky Esther Krasner Libby Weiss Yoav Gal |
| author_sort | Ido-David Dechtman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak resulted in hundreds of millions of coronavirus cases, as well as millions of deaths worldwide. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the disease resulting from exposure to this pathogen, is characterized, among other features, by a pulmonary pathology, which can progress to “cytokine storm”, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), respiratory failure and death. Vaccines are the unsurpassed strategy for prevention and protection against the SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, there is still an extremely high number of severely ill people from at-risk populations. This may be attributed to waning immune response, variant-induced breakthrough infections, unvaccinated population, etc. It is therefore of high importance to utilize pharmacological-based treatments, despite the progression of the global vaccination campaign. Until the approval of Paxlovid, an efficient and highly selective anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug, and the broad-spectrum antiviral agent Lagevrio, many pharmacological-based countermeasures were, and still are, being evaluated in clinical trials. Some of these are host-directed therapies (HDTs), which modulate the endogenic response against the virus, and therefore may confer efficient protection against a wide array of pathogens. These could potentially include Biological Warfare Agents (BWAs), exposure to which may lead to mass casualties due to disease severity and a possible lack of efficient treatment. In this review, we assessed the recent literature on drugs under advanced clinical evaluation for COVID-19 with broad spectrum activity, including antiviral agents and HDTs, which may be relevant for future coping with BWAs, as well as with other agents, in particular respiratory infections. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:08:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fcf38b02c6e34317a99b36a6e7a362be |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2607 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:08:52Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Microorganisms |
| spelling | doaj.art-fcf38b02c6e34317a99b36a6e7a362be2023-11-18T11:43:48ZengMDPI AGMicroorganisms2076-26072023-06-01116157710.3390/microorganisms11061577Clinically Evaluated COVID-19 Drugs with Therapeutic Potential for Biological Warfare AgentsIdo-David Dechtman0Ran Ankory1Keren Sokolinsky2Esther Krasner3Libby Weiss4Yoav Gal5Pulmonology Department, Edith Wolfson Medical Center, 62 Halochamim Street, Holon 5822012, IsraelThe Israel Defense Force Medical Corps, Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, Military Post 02149, IsraelChemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Division, Ministry of Defense, HaKirya, Tel Aviv 61909, IsraelChemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Division, Ministry of Defense, HaKirya, Tel Aviv 61909, IsraelChemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Division, Ministry of Defense, HaKirya, Tel Aviv 61909, IsraelChemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Division, Ministry of Defense, HaKirya, Tel Aviv 61909, IsraelThe severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak resulted in hundreds of millions of coronavirus cases, as well as millions of deaths worldwide. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the disease resulting from exposure to this pathogen, is characterized, among other features, by a pulmonary pathology, which can progress to “cytokine storm”, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), respiratory failure and death. Vaccines are the unsurpassed strategy for prevention and protection against the SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, there is still an extremely high number of severely ill people from at-risk populations. This may be attributed to waning immune response, variant-induced breakthrough infections, unvaccinated population, etc. It is therefore of high importance to utilize pharmacological-based treatments, despite the progression of the global vaccination campaign. Until the approval of Paxlovid, an efficient and highly selective anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug, and the broad-spectrum antiviral agent Lagevrio, many pharmacological-based countermeasures were, and still are, being evaluated in clinical trials. Some of these are host-directed therapies (HDTs), which modulate the endogenic response against the virus, and therefore may confer efficient protection against a wide array of pathogens. These could potentially include Biological Warfare Agents (BWAs), exposure to which may lead to mass casualties due to disease severity and a possible lack of efficient treatment. In this review, we assessed the recent literature on drugs under advanced clinical evaluation for COVID-19 with broad spectrum activity, including antiviral agents and HDTs, which may be relevant for future coping with BWAs, as well as with other agents, in particular respiratory infections.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/11/6/1577SARS-CoV-2COVID-19treatmentdrugsantiviralhost-directed therapy |
| spellingShingle | Ido-David Dechtman Ran Ankory Keren Sokolinsky Esther Krasner Libby Weiss Yoav Gal Clinically Evaluated COVID-19 Drugs with Therapeutic Potential for Biological Warfare Agents Microorganisms SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 treatment drugs antiviral host-directed therapy |
| title | Clinically Evaluated COVID-19 Drugs with Therapeutic Potential for Biological Warfare Agents |
| title_full | Clinically Evaluated COVID-19 Drugs with Therapeutic Potential for Biological Warfare Agents |
| title_fullStr | Clinically Evaluated COVID-19 Drugs with Therapeutic Potential for Biological Warfare Agents |
| title_full_unstemmed | Clinically Evaluated COVID-19 Drugs with Therapeutic Potential for Biological Warfare Agents |
| title_short | Clinically Evaluated COVID-19 Drugs with Therapeutic Potential for Biological Warfare Agents |
| title_sort | clinically evaluated covid 19 drugs with therapeutic potential for biological warfare agents |
| topic | SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 treatment drugs antiviral host-directed therapy |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/11/6/1577 |
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