State-of-the-art nanotechnology based drug delivery strategies to combat COVID-19

Abstract

The emerging Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a global impact on all important aspects of our society. As it is known, SARS-Cov-2 can withstand up to 72 h in adverse environmental conditions, which can aid its rapid spread. Woefully, an efficacious and approbated vaccine for the SARS-CoV-2 virus remains unavailable, which makes the problem more frightening and presently more complicated bestowing forlorn medical care. Nevertheless, global clinical research is studying several over-the-counter (OTC) drugs approved for other indications to confront coronavirus. Over the past decade, therapeutic nanoparticles have been regarded as a felicitous tool for the efficient and persnickety delivery of therapeutic groups (i.e., drugs, vaccines, siRNAs, and peptides) to the site of infection. They can adequately convey the drug encapsulated nanoparticle to a designated locus without instigating unsought effects. Besides, they acquiesce the use of non-invasive imaging methods to monitor the surface of the infection and the response to treatment. The formulated nanoparticle is apposite for intranasal drug delivery which is a meritorious method to deliver therapeutic moiety for viral diseases affecting the lungs. Applying nanoparticles via intranasal route surmounted several demerits of mucosal administration like circumventing enzymatic degradation of the therapeutic moiety, upgrading and prolonging the action of the drug, etc., and can thus corroborate as an exceptional strategy to encounter respiratory viruses like coronavirus. In this article, we illuminate the promising role of nanoparticles as effective carriers of therapeutic or immunomodulatory agents to help combat COVID-19. The search criteria used were Pubmed, Medscape, Google scholar, etc and the keywords are coronavirus, nanoformulations, nanoparticles, drug delivery, intranasal delivery, etc. The articles range from 2012 to 2020.