Amantadine Might be Used as a Drug for SARS-Cov-2 Treatment?

ABSTRACT

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, the pandemics, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has no known effective radical pharmacotherapy and just supportive approach at present. Amantadine is a drug used in Parkinson's disease and other parkin-sonisms;and is known to increase indirectly dopamine by antagonistic effects at the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor by increasing the release and blocking the reuptake of dopamine. Initially, amantadine was approved as an antiviral drug. We hypothesize that if amantadine is considered its anti-viral, immunological and neurostimulant effects might be useful in the supportive treatment of SARS-CoV-2 cases, especially those who developed acute respiratory failure with decreased vigilance and are being monitored in the intensive care unit. Further phase III clinical trials are needed.Copyright © 2021 Bentham Science Publishers.