Challenges and future directions of potential natural products leads against 2019-nCoV outbreak

Except for Remdesivir (R) no other drug or vaccine has yet been approved to treat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by the virus known as, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Remdesivir (R) an small molecule and nucleic acid analogue, it is used to treat adults and children with laboratory confirmed COVID-19, only administrated in hospital settings. Small molecules and particularly natural products count for almost fifty percent of the commercially available drugs, several of them are marketed antiviral agents and those can be a potential agent to treat COVID-19 infections. This short review rationalized different key natural products with known activity against coronaviruses as potential leads against COVID-19.