Repurposing Drugs for the Treatment of COVID-19 and Its Cardiovascular Manifestations

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 leading to the ongoing global pandemic. Infected patients developed a range of respiratory symptoms, including respiratory failure, as well as other extrapulmonary complications. Multiple comorbidities, including hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic kidney diseases, are associated with the severity and increased mortality of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 infection also causes a range of cardiovascular complications, including myocarditis, myocardial injury, heart failure, arrhythmias, acute coronary syndrome, and venous thromboembolism. Although a variety of methods have been developed and many clinical trials have been launched for drug repositioning for COVID-19, treatments that consider cardiovascular manifestations and cardiovascular disease comorbidities specifically are limited. In this review, we summarize recent advances in drug repositioning for COVID-19, including experimental drug repositioning, high-throughput drug screening, omics data-based, and network medicine-based computational drug repositioning, with particular attention on those drug treatments that consider cardiovascular manifestations of COVID-19. We discuss prospective opportunities and potential methods for repurposing drugs to treat cardiovascular complications of COVID-19.

Automated summary

COVID-19 is a global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, leading to various respiratory and extrapulmonary complications. Comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic kidney diseases worsen the severity and mortality of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 infection also results in cardiovascular complications, including myocarditis, heart failure, and venous thromboembolism. This review summarizes recent advances in drug repositioning for COVID-19, focusing on treatments that consider cardiovascular manifestations. It discusses potential opportunities and methods for repurposing drugs to treat cardiovascular complications of COVID-19.