Practice considerations on the use of investigational anti-COVID-19 medications: Dosage, administration and monitoring

Ji Eun Kang, Sandy Jeong Rhie

Research output: Contribution to journalComment/debate

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1199-1205
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics
Volume45
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Oct 2020

Bibliographical note

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

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • investigational medication
  • severe acute respiratory syndrome

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