Drug discovery strategies for SARS-CoV-2

COVID-19 is a novel disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that was first detected in December of 2019 in Wuhan, China and has rapidly spread worldwide. The search for a suitable vaccine as well as effective therapeutics for the treatment of COVID-19 is underway. Drug repurposing screens provide a useful and effective solution for identifying potential therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2. For example, the experimental drug remdesivir, originally developed for Ebola virus infections, has been approved by the FDA as an emergency use treatment for COVID-19. However, the efficacy and toxicity of this drug needs further improvements. In this review, we discuss recent findings on the pathology of coronaviruses and the drug targets for the treatment of COVID-19. Both SARS-CoV-2 specific inhibitors and broad-spectrum anti-coronavirus drugs against SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 will be valuable additions to the anti-SARS-CoV-2 armament. A multi-target treatment approach with synergistic drug combinations containing different mechanisms of action may be a practical therapeutic strategy for the treatment of severe COVID-19. Significance Statement Understanding the biology and pathology of RNA viruses is critical to accomplish the challenging task of developing vaccines and therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2. This review highlights the anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug targets and therapeutic development strategies for COVID-19 treatment.