Currently, several vaccines are available for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) along with numerous antiviral treatments proposed and tested. But the problem persists as vaccines are still not equally accessible worldwide; there is a continuous emergence of new virus variants and generally short duration of immunity. Thus developing safe and effective antiviral treatments remains the need of the time.

Many researchers are repurposing existing and approved drugs for accelerated clinical testing and potential emergency use authorizations. However, drug-repurposing using high throughput screenings in cellular assays may prove effective initially but be ineffective in clinical studies. 

Thus a study evaluated the activity of compounds that have either been tested clinically or already undergone extensive preclinical profiling, utilizing a standardized in vitro model of human nasal epithelium. It also evaluated drug combinations using sub-maximal doses of each active single compound and reported the antiviral effects of 95 single compounds and 30 combinations. It demonstrated that the selected drug combinations including 10 μM of molnupiravir, effectively inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication. The top performers were PF-00835231, remdesivir, molnupiravir, nelfinavir and ritonavir, followed by ONO-3307 and TO-195.

This study rendered combining drugs to be worthy of further evaluation as potential treatment strategies against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Source- PREPRINT. bioRxiv 2022.01.10.475377. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.10.475377