COVID-19 drug development

COVID-19 drug development is the research process to develop preventative therapeutic prescription drugs that would alleviate the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). From early 2020 through 2021, several hundred drug companies, biotechnology firms, university research groups, and health organizations were developing therapeutic candidates for COVID-19 disease in various stages of preclinical or clinical research (506 total candidates in April 2021), with 419 potential COVID-19 drugs in clinical trials, as of April 2021.

As early as March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO), European Medicines Agency (EMA), US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Chinese government and drug manufacturers were coordinating with academic and industry researchers to speed development of vaccines, antiviral drugs, and post-infection therapies. The International Clinical Trials Registry Platform of the WHO recorded 536 clinical studies to develop post-infection therapies for COVID-19 infections, with numerous established antiviral compounds for treating other infections under clinical research to be repurposed.

In March 2020, the WHO initiated the "SOLIDARITY Trial" in 10 countries, enrolling thousands of people infected with COVID-19 to assess treatment effects of four existing antiviral compounds with the most promise of efficacy. A dynamic, systematic review was established in April 2020 to track the progress of registered clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic drug candidates.

Drug development is a multistep process, typically requiring more than five years to assure safety and efficacy of the new compound. Several national regulatory agencies, such as the EMA and the FDA, approved procedures to expedite clinical testing. By June 2021, dozens of potential post-infection therapies were in the final stage of human testing – phase III–IV clinical trials.