Skip to main content

REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Respiratory Pharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1457672

Emerging Small-molecule Antiviral Agents in Long COVID Prevention

Provisionally accepted
Xiaomeng He Xiaomeng He 1Xiang Zhang Xiang Zhang 2Wu Zhong Wu Zhong 1*
  • 1 Beijing Institute of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Beijing, China
  • 2 People's Liberation Army Joint Logistics Support Force 940th Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Long COVID, or Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), was characterized by persistent symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive impairments.These symptoms, emerging one to two months post-infection and persisting for several months, cannot be attributed to other diagnoses. The pathophysiology of long COVID remained elusive; however, emerging studies suggested multiple potential mechanisms, including the reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus, persistent SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs, neuroinflammation, and vascular damage, which may contribute to its development.Long COVID affected multiple organ systems, including respiratory, circulatory, and nervous systems, leading to a range of functional impairments. Additionally, it showed a profound impact on mental health, manifesting as anxiety and depression, which significantly degraded the quality of life. The absence of definitive treatments underscored the importance of prevention. Recent evidence indicated that early antiviral intervention-particularly with small-molecule drugs such as Metformin, Ensitrelvir, Molnupiravir, and Nirmatrelvir-may effectively reduce the incidence of long COVID. This underscored the promising role of small-molecule compounds in mitigating long-term COVID-19 consequences, offering a novel preventive strategy against long COVID and its extensive impacts on patients.

    Keywords: Long Covid, Metformin, Ensitrelvir, Molnupiravir, nirmatrelvir

    Received: 01 Jul 2024; Accepted: 27 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 He, Zhang and Zhong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Wu Zhong, Beijing Institute of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.