Exploring the magic bullets to identify Achilles’ heel in SARS-CoV-2: Delving deeper into the sea of possible therapeutic options in Covid-19 disease: An update

Thakur, Shikha; Mayank; Sarkar, Bibekananda; Ansari, Arshad J.; Khandelwal, Akanksha; Arya, Anil; Poduri, Ramarao; Joshi, Gaurav

The symptoms and signs of Covid-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 in severe conditions can cause multiple organ failure and fatality via a plethora of mechanisms, and it is essential to discover the efficacious and safe drug. For this, a successful strategy is to inhibit in different stages of the SARS-CoV-2 life cycle and host cell reactions. The current review briefly put forth the summary of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and highlight the critical areas of understanding in genomics, proteomics, medicinal chemistry, and natural products derived drug discovery. The review further extends to briefly put forth the updates in the drug testing system, biologics, biophysics, and their advances concerning SARS-CoV-2. The salient features include information on SARS-CoV-2 morphology, genomic characterization, and pathophysiology along with important protein targets and how they influence the drug design and development against SARS-CoV-2 and a concerted and integrated approach to target these stages. The review also gives the status of drug design and discovery to identify the drugs acting on critical targets in SARS-CoV-2 and host reactions to treat Covid-19.