Primed for Global Coronavirus Pandemic: Emerging Research and Clinical Outcome

Ahamad, Shakir; Branch, Scotty; Harrelson, Shea; Hussain, Mohd Kamil; Saquib, Mohammad; Khan, Saeed

The global effort to combat and contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is now proceeding on a war footing. The world was slow to react to the developing crisis, but once the contours of the impending calamity became evident, the different state and non-state actors have raced to put their act together. The COVID-19 outbreak has blatantly exposed the shortcomings of our healthcare system and the limitations of medical science, despite considerable advances in recent years. To effectively tackle the current epidemic, almost unprecedented in the modern era, there is an urgent need for a concerted, sustained, and coordinated effort towards the development of new diagnostics, therapeutic and vaccines, and the ramping up of the healthcare infrastructure, especially in the poorer, underprivileged nations. Towards this end, researchers around the world are working tirelessly to develop new diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics. Efforts to develop a vaccine against COVID-19 are presently underway in several countries around the world, but a new vaccine is expected only by the end of the year-at the earliest. New drug development against COVID-19 and its approval may take even longer. Under such circumstances, drug repurposing has emerged as a realistic and effective strategy to counter the virus menace in the short run, and several antiviral and antimalarial medicines are currently in different stages of clinical trials. Researchers are also experimenting with nutrients, vitamins, monoclonal antibodies, and convalescent plasma as immunity boosters against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). This report presents a critical analysis of the global clinical trial landscape for COVID-19 with an emphasis on the therapeutic agents and vaccines currently being tested at pandemic speed.