A review on the clinical trials of repurposing therapeutic drugs, mechanisms and preventive measures against SARS-CoV-2

Abstract Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly transmittable pathogenic viral infection that causes a disease known as COVID-19. It is a pandemic and public health challenge ravaging the world today. Unfortunately, with the daily increase of infected individuals, there is no known drug approved for the treatment of COVID-19. However, there are therapeutic drugs with the potentials to inhibit endocytic pathways, suppress ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymerase activities, and reduce the replication of SARS-CoV-2. These drugs modifications are aimed at reducing inflammation, time of recovery, and number of deaths. This review is aimed at providing updated information on the clinical manifestations, diagnosis, preventive measures and therapeutic drugs used against SARS-CoV-2. The finding of this review revealed that some of these drugs are transmembrane protease, serine 2, and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 inhibitors with the capacity to block the entrance/replication of SARS-CoV-2 in a host cell and therefore, may be promising in preventing the spread and mortality of SARS-CoV-2. However, these drugs may cause detrimental health effects such as toxic and non-efficacy issues. Therefore great caution should be employed by health professionals when prescribing these drugs to COVID-19 patients.</jats:p