Miscellaneous therapy for COVID-19. A systematic review

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 named COVID-19 poses a severe health hazard for the public. The etiological origin, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 identified as SARS - CoV-2 is responsible for the emerging respiratory infection. Certain miscellaneous therapies such as newly emerged or repurposed drugs can be considered as therapeutical agents for COVID-19 infection due to a lack of specific therapy. The systematic review prioritize on identifying the various miscellaneous therapies used in in-vivo or in-vitro, specifically against COVID-19 infections and analyzes their effectiveness as therapeutic agents. A review of Google Scholar and PubMed from May 2020 to June 2020 with the "treatment of COVID-19" search term resulted in 32 articles on miscellaneous therapies. 14 studies were hypothesis literature, therefore excluded; the remaining 16 studies were taken into consideration for the systematic review. The systematic review identified cetilistat, diiodohydroxyquinoline, abiraterone, bexarotene, hispidin, lepidine E, folic acid, curcumin, maraviroc, glecaprevir, sofosbuvir, Mesenchymal Stem Cells [MSC] transplantation, ruxolitinib [RUX], baricitinib, eculizumab, blood purification, Traditional Chinese Medicine [TCM] and Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation [ECMO] as potential candidates in COVId-19. They were found to have achieved a positive impact by reducing viral load, hyper inflammation, and rapid transmission of the infection. The miscellaneous therapies identified may be considered mainstream or additional therapy in the current viral pandemic and may provide a favorable prognosis for patients by reducing the severity, infectivity, and mortality. It may also modulate the health care sector work pressure.