Many new drugs are developed and tested against COVID-19 on a routine basis. Almost 200 approved drugs have been found effective against COVID-19, say researchers.
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‘Sulfasalazine and proguanil arrested the multiplication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, suggesting their potential use to treat COVID-19.’
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The treatment of COVID-19 infection is associated with small molecule and antibody approaches to date. 
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The Oxford research team used an advanced computational approach using machine learning methods and arrived at a map of proteins related to COVID-19 infection. This included potential host and viral therapeutic targets.
They then virtually screened around 2,000 drugs. Of these, 200 showed high efficacy against COVID-19. Forty drugs in this list have entered clinical trials to date.
Based on the mechanism of action, the drugs were classified into two groups using artificial neural network analysis:
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• Drugs that targeted host's immune response
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"We hope this resource of potential drugs will accelerate the development of new drugs against COVID-19. We believe our approach will be useful for responding rapidly to new variants of SARS-CoV2 and other new pathogens that could drive future pandemics," highlighted Kouzarides.
Source-Medindia