Abhishek Kumar Yadav, Shubham Kumar and Vikramdeep Monga*

Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, ISF College of Pharmacy, Punjab, India

*Corresponding Author: Vikramdeep Monga, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, ISF College of Pharmacy, Punjab, India.

Received: May 02, 2021; Published: June 09, 2021

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19 or coronavirus disease 2019 and the same has been declared as a global pandemic by WHO which marked the third introduction of a virulent coronavirus into human society. This is a highly pathogenic human coronavirus in which pneumonia of unknown origin was identified in China in December 2019 and is a threat to human life worldwide. Considerable efforts have been made for developing effective and safe drugs and vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. The current situation and progress in the development of various therapeutic candidates including vaccines in preclinical and clinical studies have been described in the manuscript. Until now, many people have been infected with this lethal virus, and a lot of people have died from this COVID-19 virus. This viral disease spreads by coming in contact with an infected person. Understanding of SARS-CoV-2 is growing in relation to its epidemiology, virology, and clinical management strategies. Till date, very few drugs or vaccines have been developed or approved for the treatment of this deadly disease of COVID-19 and many candidates are under the clinical development pipeline. Apart from the fact that our knowledge has risen well beyond the two precedents of coronavirus, there is still a wide loophole in the successful exploration of the therapeutic strategies and management of the outbreak of this virus. Moreover, successful integration of the outcomes from different in vivo evaluation and in silico studies including vaccine development strategies could be a great tool in the discovery of safe and effective treatment strategies. Although, vaccines have shown tremendous potential to combat the current pandemic situation but a vaccine candidate(s) effective in discrete phases of the pandemic is highly desirable. Currently, more than 250 vaccine candidates are under preclinical and clinical developmental pipeline, but there are stringent challenges that need to be addressed especially the unknowns about the disease. This review summarizes the various therapeutic targets and strategies for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection including the status of various small molecules as well as potential vaccine candidates under clinical development.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Coronavirus; Vaccines; Clinical Trials; Repurposing; Diagnostics

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Citation

Citation: Vikramdeep Monga., et al. “Progress in the Development of Potential Therapeutics and Vaccines against COVID-19 Pandemic". Acta Scientific Pharmaceutical Sciences 5.7 (2020): 45-62.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Vikramdeep Monga., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.