Current status and thinking of small-molecule drug discovery for the treatment of COVID-19 / 国际药学研究杂志

ABSTRACT

The discovery of small-molecule drugs for the treatment of COVID-19 is one of the most concerned research fields in drug discovery. Different kinds of small-molecule drugs approved or being developed are currently under clinical studies for the treatment of COVID-19. At present, the design of most clinical trials for the treatment of COVID-19 is lack of rationality. Moreover, the efficacy of drugs is controversial. High-quality results of clinical research are urgently needed. There is no small-molecule drugs in clinical studies that have specific effects on SARS-CoV-2. To find more drug candidates, artificial intelligence, structure-based drug design and other methods are applied to discover pre-clinical small molecule compounds against important protein targets of SARS-CoV-2 and virus host. Resources should be further integrated to discover drugs with specific effects to treat COVID-19.