Drug Repurposing and Computational Drug Discovery for Viral Infections and Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19)

Abstract

Since the pandemic created by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), no exact therapeutic options came to light except some vaccines and one or two drugs which are still under clinical trials. Computational techniques including the computer-aided drug design model (CADD) which has been proven to be a best starting point in the development of drugs for different diseases with a fast and fruitful outcome is also the best possible way to design a potential drug for SARS-CoV-2. Such approaches have been previously used in many viral infectious diseases like Hepatitis C virus (HCV), Ebola virus, influenza, and HIV. Recent clinical studies have revealed that the use of several repurposed drugs as well as multi-targeted drugs can be a successful and promising approach to inhibit virus such as lopinavir, remdesivir, ribavirin, 60favipiravir, ritonavir, arbidol, darunavir, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, and tocilizumab. In this chapter we have focused on the ongoing research on the efficiency of repurposing drugs for the novel coronavirus through experimental studies based on in-vitro, in-vivo analyses. An approach to design new drugs/inhibitors will also be focused through CADD approach.