Premium
Safety perspectives on presently considered drugs for the treatment of COVID‐19
Author(s) -
Penman Sophie L.,
Kiy Robyn T.,
Jensen Rebecca L.,
BeokuBetts Christopher,
Alfirevic Ana,
Back David,
Khoo Saye H.,
Owen Andrew,
Pirmohamed Munir,
Park B. Kevin,
Meng Xiaoli,
Goldring Christopher E.,
Chadwick Amy E.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
british journal of pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.432
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1476-5381
pISSN - 0007-1188
DOI - 10.1111/bph.15204
Subject(s) - covid-19 , repurposing , intensive care medicine , context (archaeology) , medicine , disease , harm , risk analysis (engineering) , psychology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pathology , engineering , biology , paleontology , social psychology , outbreak , waste management
Intense efforts are underway to evaluate potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of COVID‐19. In order to respond quickly to the crisis, the repurposing of existing drugs is the primary pharmacological strategy. Despite the urgent clinical need for these therapies, it is imperative to consider potential safety issues. This is important due to the harm–benefit ratios that may be encountered when treating COVID‐19, which can depend on the stage of the disease, when therapy is administered and underlying clinical factors in individual patients. Treatments are currently being trialled for a range of scenarios from prophylaxis (where benefit must greatly exceed risk) to severe life‐threatening disease (where a degree of potential risk may be tolerated if it is exceeded by the potential benefit). In this perspective, we have reviewed some of the most widely researched repurposed agents in order to identify potential safety considerations using existing information in the context of COVID‐19.