Utilizing clinical pharmacology in the drug repurposing arena: a look into COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Drug repurposing represented an important contribution in the management of COVID-19, becoming the first line of defense to mitigate the effects of the new coronavirus. In a brief time, drug repurposing (DR) provided potentially effective and already available drugs for COVID-19, while specific therapies against SARS-CoV-2 and/or vaccines were developing. Identifying repurposed drugs requires a multidisciplinary approach, where clinical pharmacology represents the missing piece of the puzzle.

Areas covered

Nowadays, clinical pharmacology is recognized as a discipline at the core of translational science, whose activities lead to the identification of the right drug for the right patient. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, its role in drug development and therapy choice has been decisive and itself repositioned. In this review, we tried to highlight the important role of clinical pharmacology in the identification and evaluation of possible repurposed drugs for COVID-19.

Expert opinion

We believe that clinical pharmacology had an important role in identifying patient-oriented therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, DR was just one of the challenges for clinical pharmacology, which proved that this discipline is ready to respond to future threats.

KEYWORDS:

• clinical pharmacology
• drug repurposing
• COVID-19
• patient-oriented
• precision medicine

Article highlights

• Currently, clinical pharmacology is a discipline at the core of translational science, whose main goal is to improve the use of drugs in terms of quality, efficacy, and safety/tolerability, obtaining better outcomes with fewer costs as possible.

• This discipline is characterized by a wealth of knowledge about approved drugs, in terms of pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, drug-drug interaction, drug safety profiles, safety and efficacy biomarkers, and adjustment doses required for special populations like children or elderly. Based on these knowledges, several drugs have been identified during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The development of a pharmacology network able to integrate different types of data derived from different technologies (for example computational approach, artificial intelligence) was one of the most exciting challenges for the clinical pharmacologist.

• COVID-19 pandemic has pointed out the importance of clinical pharmacology in all its activities for a patient-oriented therapy.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Abbreviations

Drug repurposing (DR), COronaVIrus Disease-2019 (COVID-19), Severe-Acute-Respiratory Syndrome- CoronaVirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.