Searching an Effective Therapy for the Coronavirus Pandemic: Do We See Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). First reported at the end of December 2019 as a cause for clusters of pneumonia cases in Wuhan city in China, the rapid spread of this condition was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, by the World Health Organization (WHO). Apart from the mortality and morbidity associated with COVID-19, the massive social and financial havoc inflicted by this pandemic has left the entire world pondering if medical science can innovate and curtail the ongoing damage due to SARS-CoV-2. Recent findings of an open-label study that investigated the use of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in COVID-19 patients in Marseille, France, has garnered some optimism in scientific quarters and the general public alike in terms of finding a treatment regimen to control the rampant rise of COVID-19. We will discuss the potential off-label therapy and studies as it pertains to COVID-19.