COVID-19 and Medicinal Chemistry

Respiratory virus pandemics and epidemics continue to be recognised as one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality around the world. SARS-CoV-2 is an envelope virus with a single positive strand RNA genome and a helically symmetric nucleocapsid. It belongs to the Coronavirinae family, which is the largest viral family. Unfortunately, there are currently no effective anti-SARS-CoV-2 medicines. As a result, there is an unmet medical need for new antiviral medications and more effective therapeutic choices to combat this devastating disease. Given these facts, a thorough examination of SARS-life CoV-2's cycle and pathogenic mechanism is required to pave the way for the development of SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors. Many general approaches to medicinal chemistry could be useful in identifying novel medicines to combat SARS-CoV-2 infections. Drug repurposing is a cost-effective method for finding effective SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors by screening chemical libraries including medicines or investigational novel drugs (INDs). Drugs or INDs having adequate pharmaceutical characteristics have a safety profile that has been approved. They may be mass-produced in the pharmaceutical business, saving a significant amount of time at this time of need.

• Drug repurposing
• Host ACE2 as antiviral drug target
• Large-scale screening in silico or in vitro
• Medicinal chemistry strategies in seeking effective SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors
• Natural products
• Reposition of existing broad-spectrum antiviral drugs