Title:Phytotherapic Drugs for COVID-19 Treatment: A Scoping Review
Volume: 27
Issue: 31
Author(s): Meenakshi Singh, Darshini Trivedi, Reecha Mohapatra, Trisha Bagchi, Chandrasai P. Durthi *Chandrasekhar Kuppam *
Affiliation:
- Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Waranagal, Telangana, 506004,India
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722,Korea
Keywords:
Medicinal plants, bioactive metabolites, phytotherapic drugs, plant-derived immunomodulatory agents, SARS-CoV-2, clinical
trials, herbal extracts.
Abstract:
Background: The rapid eruption of Coronavirus at the end of 2019 has caused global health crisis
and significant loss to the economy and social well-being. This created a massive shortage of advanced health
facilities with inadequate medicinal supply, further deteriorating human health conditions. On the basis of adverse
effects of the ongoing pandemic, this review has been proposed to evaluate the antiviral efficacy of plant-
based therapeutics, against SARS-CoV-2 (commonly called COVID-19) infection. It highlights the possible
action of the mechanism of phytotherapeutic drugs against coronavirus inhibition, further validated by clinical
trials on herbal formulas is reviewed. Though the experimental studies on COVID-19 treatment are limited, the
undesirable side effects of herbal drugs and unidentified compounds cannot be ignored.
Objective: We have made an effort to study the prospective plant-derived bioactive entities and their effectiveness
in the treatment of COVID-19 and also emphasize on safety and regulatory concerns of phytomedicines.
Methods: The methodology involves relevant studies on COVID-19 treatment based on herbal extracts and the
purified bioactive metabolites. The e-literature survey has been done by downloading research articles available
on PubMed (National Library of medicine), Elsevier, and Google scholar search engines. The keywords used
are plant metabolites, natural bioactive, phytotherapeutic drugs, clinical trials, SARS-CoV-2, Coronavirus inhibitors
and herbal extracts.
Results: The review pays particular attention to the etiological study of the COVID-19 virus and its inhibition
using medicinal plant metabolites as immunomodulatory agents. The application of valuable bioactives like
phenolic compounds, saponins, alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids and terpenoids in preparing herbal formula/drug
has been focused on. The drug resistance of bioactive compounds and their side effects on human health were
discussed for effective phytomedicine, thus, emphasizing the perspectives of phytotherapeutic drugs as a safe
remedy to boost immunomodulatory functions and antiviral activity against COVID-19.
Conclusion: Altogether, the review presents the action mechanism of plant extracts rich in bioactive compounds
and depicted potential antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. These plant bioactive compounds can
serve as lead molecules to develop phytomedicine, ensuring all safety regulations in the clinical trials to treat or
prevent COVID-19 viral infections.
