COVID-19 drug development

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COVID-19 drug development is the research process to develop preventative therapeutic prescription drugs that would alleviate the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). From early 2020 through 2021, several hundred drug companies, biotechnology firms, university research groups, and health organizations were developing therapeutic candidates for COVID-19 disease in various stages of preclinical or clinical research (506 total candidates in April 2021), with 419 potential COVID-19 drugs in clinical trials, as of April 2021.^[1]

As early as March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO),^[2] European Medicines Agency (EMA),^[3] US Food and Drug Administration (FDA),^[4] and the Chinese government and drug manufacturers^[5][6] were coordinating with academic and industry researchers to speed development of vaccines, antiviral drugs, and post-infection therapies.^{[7][8][9][10]} The International Clinical Trials Registry Platform of the WHO recorded 536 clinical studies to develop post-infection therapies for COVID-19 infections,^[11][12] with numerous established antiviral compounds for treating other infections under clinical research to be repurposed.^{[7][13][14][15]}

In March 2020, the WHO initiated the "SOLIDARITY Trial" in 10 countries, enrolling thousands of people infected with COVID-19 to assess treatment effects of four existing antiviral compounds with the most promise of efficacy.^[2][16] A dynamic, systematic review was established in April 2020 to track the progress of registered clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic drug candidates.^[12]

Drug development is a multistep process, typically requiring more than five years to assure safety and efficacy of the new compound.^[17] Several national regulatory agencies, such as the EMA and the FDA, approved procedures to expedite clinical testing.^[4][18] By June 2021, dozens of potential post-infection therapies were in the final stage of human testing – phase III–IV clinical trials.^[19]