[COVID-19 drug candidate pipeline, an overview].

ABSTRACT

The new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) spread throughout the world and caused a pandemic with COVID-19, an infection caused by SARS-CoV-2. Even today, an increase in the number of cases has also been observed in Japan. Since the drugs used in drug repositioning have already been tested for safety and pharmacokinetics in humans, it is possible to skip some development tests, and since the manufacturing method of the drug has already been established, it is possible to shorten the development period and reduce R&D costs. Therefore, the drug repositioning method is one of the methods that should be tried in order to achieve the initial control of a pandemic. In Japan, it has been announced that research and development using drug repositioning has been conducted to date. The following are some of the candidates that have already been identified as COVID-19 therapeutic agents in Japan and are expected to be identified in the future.