Novel progression on clinical therapy of COVID-19: Western and Traditional Chinese Medicines

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel coronavirus that causes a global epidemic named COVID-19. It still continues to plague humans with severe complications and unique sequelae, causing huge economic losses in the world. Pathophysiological studies showed that important life organs, such as the lungs, brain, kidneys, heart, liver, and immune system, and even reproductive ones are affected directly or indirectly in patients with COVID-19. Classically and newly discovered drugs, concerning antiviral replication, anti-inflammation, blockage of pathogenic processes, alleviation of symptoms, and especially distinctive multi-actions of Traditional Chinese Medicine, were screened out and tested, presenting promising therapeutic effects on the virus before or even though abundant effective vaccines come out. Moreover, other strategies are underway, including the use of plasma therapy, monoclonal neutralizing antibodies, vaccine trials, and emerging drugs with distinct interference mechanisms. This review features the novel progress on the latest-discovered antiviral drugs and the effective Traditional Chinese Medicine, and highlights the advantages and shortages of different therapeutic strategies and the predicted potential targets of the used Traditional Chinese Medicine components, which provides a valuable reference for clinical treatment continuously to combat COVID-19.