ABSTRACT
The emergence of a novel, virulent, and pandemic strain of coronavirus termed Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the COVID-19 causative agent, challenged scientists and the world pharmaceutical sector to find therapeutic options urgently for COVID-19 treatment. Following the conventional drug discovery process to develop drug against COVID-19, which is responsible for more than 2 million deaths globally, may be costly and not yield expected results rapidly. Drug repositioning or repurposing by-pass some stages involved in conventional drug development, thus offering a rapid and cheap means of obtaining cure for COVID-19. Hence, focusing on antiviral drugs, this review discussed the promising potentials, mechanisms, and possible challenges associated with approved and clinical trial antiviral drugs repurposed for COVID-19 treatment.
