Pharmacological Approaches in the Treatment of COVID-19: Current Situation

• Autor(a) principal: Rocha, João
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.25756/rpf.v12i1-2.238

The pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, caused by the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been creating unprecedent challenges to Public Health Systems. One of the most active areas in fighting this pandemic has been unmistakably the development of efficacious therapies for treatment of this disease. Taking into account that the “time-factor” is the limiting step of the, usually long, medicine development process, one of the most pursued approach has been the research of medicines already available in the market with approved indications for other diseases, the process known as “drug repurposing”, in an attempt to a faster pathway to a therapy with established efficacy and safety. There are also a few experimental medicinal substances that exhibited early indications of efficacy and are therefore also being evaluated for the treatment of COVID-19. In this context, two main pharmacological approaches have prevailed: antiviral therapies that intend to reduce the replicating and infectious ability of SARS--CoV-2; and immunomodulatory therapies with the aim of limiting the inflammatory response by the immune system towards the infection and the potential development of acute respiratory distress syndrome and even multiple organ dysfunction associated to septic shock. Simultaneously to the development of potential treatments for this infection, an unprecedent effort has been seen towards a development of an efficacious vaccine that allows to reduce the risk of disease development, especially in the higher-risk groups. This review aims to summarize, at this time, the major advancements in the treatment of COVID-19, including the successes, failures, lessons learned and the hopes for the future.