Remdesivir use in the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: A mini-review

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative viral pathogen of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), appears to have various clinical presenta-tions and may result in severe respiratory failure. The global SARS-CoV-2-associated viral pneu-monia pandemic was first reported in December 2019 in China. Based on known pharmacological mechanisms, many therapeutic drugs have been repurposed to target SARS-CoV-2. Among these drugs, remdesivir appears to be the currently most promising according to several clinical trials and reports of compassionate use. In this mini-review, we summarize the current evidence on the efficacy and challenges of remdesivir for the treatment of coro-navirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Copyright (c) 2020, Taiwan Society of Microbiology. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2-associated viral pneumonia started in China in December 2019. Remdesivir appears to be the most promising therapeutic drug for COVID-19 based on clinical trials and reports. Further research is needed to understand the efficacy and challenges of remdesivir in treating COVID-19.