Scarabel L, Guardascione M, Dal Bo M, Toffoli G. Pharmacological strategies to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and to treat the early phases of COVID-19 disease. Int J Infect Dis. 2021 Jan 18:S1201-9712(21)00046-1. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.01.035. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33476760; PMCID: PMC7816887.

A novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 causing the human COVID-19 disease, emerged in China and is spreading worldwide. At present, a wide spectrum of different clinical scenarios occurred, ranging from totally asymptomatic to severe-fatal forms. Prevention remains the best approach against SARS-CoV-2 infection and a number of strategies have been adopted including social and medical interventions. Some vaccines have been proposed and several pharmacological approaches, mainly based on repurposing drugs, are currently under investigation and still need to be validated. In this review, we summarized the ongoing clinical trials using pharmacological strategies including vaccine, as prophylaxis to avoid SARS-CoV-2 infection or to limit its transmission and as early treatment of COVID-19 disease to prevent severe clinical outcomes.