{"title":"Treatment of respiratory viral infections through inhalation therapeutics: Challenges and opportunities","authors":"Nidhi Nainwal","doi":"10.1016/j.pupt.2022.102170","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Respiratory viral infections are the leading cause of death worldwide. The current pandemic of coronavirus infection (COVID-19) challenged human beings for the treatment and prevention of this respiratory viral infection since its outbreak in 2019. Despite advancements in the medical field, scientists were helpless to give timely treatment and protection against this viral infection. Several drugs, whether antiviral or not, were given to the patients to reduce mortality and morbidity rate. Vaccines from various pharmaceutical manufacturers are now available to give immunization against covid-19. Still, coronavirus is continuously affecting people in the form of variants after mutation. Each new variant increases the infection risk and forces scientists to develop some innovative and effective treatments for this infection. The virus uses the host's cell machinery to grow and multiply in numbers. Therefore, scientists are facing challenges to develop antivirals that stop the virus without damaging the host cells too. The production of suitable antivirals or vaccines for the new virus would take several months, allowing the strain to cause severe damage to life. Inhalable formulation facilitates the delivery of medicinal products directly to the respiratory system without causing unwanted side effects associated with systemic absorption. Scientists are focusing on developing an inhaled version of the existing antivirals for the treatment of respiratory infections. This review focused on the inhalable formulations of antiviral agents in various respiratory viral infections including the ongoing covid-19 pandemic and important findings of the clinical studies. We also reviewed repurposed drugs that have been given through inhalation in covid-19 infection.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":20799,"journal":{"name":"Pulmonary pharmacology & therapeutics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9554202/pdf/","citationCount":"5","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Pulmonary pharmacology & therapeutics","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S109455392200061X","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PHARMACOLOGY & PHARMACY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 5
Abstract
Respiratory viral infections are the leading cause of death worldwide. The current pandemic of coronavirus infection (COVID-19) challenged human beings for the treatment and prevention of this respiratory viral infection since its outbreak in 2019. Despite advancements in the medical field, scientists were helpless to give timely treatment and protection against this viral infection. Several drugs, whether antiviral or not, were given to the patients to reduce mortality and morbidity rate. Vaccines from various pharmaceutical manufacturers are now available to give immunization against covid-19. Still, coronavirus is continuously affecting people in the form of variants after mutation. Each new variant increases the infection risk and forces scientists to develop some innovative and effective treatments for this infection. The virus uses the host's cell machinery to grow and multiply in numbers. Therefore, scientists are facing challenges to develop antivirals that stop the virus without damaging the host cells too. The production of suitable antivirals or vaccines for the new virus would take several months, allowing the strain to cause severe damage to life. Inhalable formulation facilitates the delivery of medicinal products directly to the respiratory system without causing unwanted side effects associated with systemic absorption. Scientists are focusing on developing an inhaled version of the existing antivirals for the treatment of respiratory infections. This review focused on the inhalable formulations of antiviral agents in various respiratory viral infections including the ongoing covid-19 pandemic and important findings of the clinical studies. We also reviewed repurposed drugs that have been given through inhalation in covid-19 infection.
期刊介绍:
Pulmonary Pharmacology and Therapeutics (formerly Pulmonary Pharmacology) is concerned with lung pharmacology from molecular to clinical aspects. The subject matter encompasses the major diseases of the lung including asthma, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary circulation, ARDS, carcinoma, bronchitis, emphysema and drug delivery. Laboratory and clinical research on man and animals will be considered including studies related to chemotherapy of cancer, tuberculosis and infection. In addition to original research papers the journal will include review articles and book reviews.
Research Areas Include:
• All major diseases of the lung
• Physiology
• Pathology
• Drug delivery
• Metabolism
• Pulmonary Toxicology.