COVID19-clinical presentation and therapeutic considerations

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) as a pandemic infection in 2020 has presented many therapeutic challenges. Not least among these is the importance of abnormal host response to infection that is one of the main drivers of more severe disease. Despite significant research endeavours, very few effective therapies have been identified, in part related to the different pathogenic mechanisms underlying different stages of clinical COVID-19. This mini review summarises data related to current and potential future therapies for COVID-19 and highlights the many challenges inherent in developing effective therapeutic options for new pandemic infection. (c) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in 2020 has created therapeutic challenges, particularly due to abnormal host responses and different pathogenic mechanisms at various stages of clinical COVID-19. Despite research efforts, few effective therapies have been identified, highlighting the challenges in developing treatments for new pandemic infections.