Page 48 - Drug Discovery and Development: Prospects and Challenges

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the COVID-19 outbreak as a global health emergency on January 30,
2020.As more cases were reported across different continents, the WHO

declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 (Gallegos,
2020).
At present, there are no specific treatments for COVID-19 infection.
The current treatment focused on alleviating the symptoms and providing
respiratory support, including mechanical ventilation, oxygen therapy,
hemodynamic support, and drug intervention using anti-microbial,
anti-viral, or other types of drugs. While mass vaccination is the most
effective approach to curb the spreading of the virus, other methods of
preventative measures and alternative medicine have been recommended
to treat COVID-19 as a short-term strategy.
The great Persian scholar Ibnu Sina, or commonly known in the West
as Avicenna (980–1037 AD) once recommended several preventative
strategies to implement during an epidemic outbreak, including
restricted movement control, self-isolation, fumigating the surrounding
environment with perfumed herbs (such as Ood, Kafoor, Sumbuluttib,
Saad Kofi, and Loban), and the use of appropriate antidotes (Tiryaqe
Wabai) and vinegar (Sirka) as prophylaxis. The anti-viral herbal approach
is based on single-use of Ziziphus jujuba, Cordia myxa, Cydonia oblonga,
Althea officinalis, Malva sylvestris, Crocus sativus, Aloe barbedensis,
Commiphora myrrha, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, which may be effective
for the prophylaxis of COVID-19 (Fatima et al., 2020)through the air,
water, utensils, fomite and feco-oral route blood. The pathogenesis and
clinical features of COVID-19 be the same as the clinical manifestation
associated epidemic Fever. In Unani medicine, various herbal drugs are
described under the caption of epidemic disease. Great Unani scholar
also Avicenna (980–1037 AD.
The pharmacological factor is necessary to treat the symptoms. In a
recent review, we reported the potential use of several drug intervention
that has been proposed as therapeutic agents in COVID-19 management,
such as Remdesivir, ivermectin, favipiravir, hydroxychloroquine,
dexamethasone, methylprednisolone, and CP (Capodice & Chubak, 2021;
Taher, et al., 2021).