Review of four major biomolecular target sites for COVID-19 and possible inhibitors as treatment interventions

This paper focuses on the review of major target sites in both the host organism and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 virus and the inhibitors that have been screened so far to unravel possible treatment agents. In this review, four major target sites were found to be the main sites where the design of possible inhibitors and treatment interventions could be probed. The four major sites that were reviewed include main protease, transmembrane protease, serine 2, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. Several existing drug candidates have been screened as inhibitors of the reviewed target sites and could serve as lead agents, prodrugs, and prospects for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019. In this review, several inhibitors such as chloroquine (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine have gone through the clinical trial phase and are being utilized for the management of the disease. Drug candidates such as CQ, derivatives, remdesivir, and favipiravir have been used for the treatment of infected persons with 100% recovery rate. It is, therefore, imperative that further structural activity relationship and modifications be carried out using these drug candidates as models for synthesizing new analogues as treatment options.