TY - JOUR
T1 - Practice considerations on the use of investigational anti-COVID-19 medications
T2 - Dosage, administration and monitoring
AU - Kang, Ji Eun
AU - Rhie, Sandy Jeong
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea Government Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) (2020R1A2C1009224) and the Ministry of Education (2017R1D1A1B03033389).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
PY - 2020/10/1
Y1 - 2020/10/1
N2 - What is known and Objective: Understanding investigational medications is important. Many older drugs are being investigated for repurposing against COVID-19. We comment on various drugs currently undergoing such trials to optimize their safe use. Comment: We describe medications used during early COVID-19 outbreaks in South Korea, focusing on practice aspects including the method of drug administration, drug formulation, patient-monitoring for adverse reactions and drug interactions informed by our experience during the 2015 outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). We comment on hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir with zinc supplement, remdesivir, tocilizumab, ciclesonide, niclosamide and high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). What is new and conclusion: Effective therapies are urgently needed to manage COVID-19, and existing drugs such as antivirals and antimalarials are under investigation for repurposing to meet this need. This process requires up-to-date drug information to ensure optimum use, particularly safety and efficacy profiles of the medications, until convincing evidence is reported.
AB - What is known and Objective: Understanding investigational medications is important. Many older drugs are being investigated for repurposing against COVID-19. We comment on various drugs currently undergoing such trials to optimize their safe use. Comment: We describe medications used during early COVID-19 outbreaks in South Korea, focusing on practice aspects including the method of drug administration, drug formulation, patient-monitoring for adverse reactions and drug interactions informed by our experience during the 2015 outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). We comment on hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir with zinc supplement, remdesivir, tocilizumab, ciclesonide, niclosamide and high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). What is new and conclusion: Effective therapies are urgently needed to manage COVID-19, and existing drugs such as antivirals and antimalarials are under investigation for repurposing to meet this need. This process requires up-to-date drug information to ensure optimum use, particularly safety and efficacy profiles of the medications, until convincing evidence is reported.
KW - COVID-19
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - investigational medication
KW - severe acute respiratory syndrome
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086281056&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/jcpt.13199
DO - 10.1111/jcpt.13199
M3 - Comment/debate
C2 - 32524645
AN - SCOPUS:85086281056
SN - 0269-4727
VL - 45
SP - 1199
EP - 1205
JO - Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics
JF - Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics
IS - 5
ER -