Repurposing therapeutic agents and herbal medicines to defeat viral nemesis

The world has witnessed numerous deadly viral influenzas pandemics with the most iconic being the Spanish flue a century ago that infected some 500 million people around the globe. In the last two decades, new human coronavirus infections such as SARs and MERs have also shown us the need to continue our research and strengthen both our prevention and therapeutic strategies. Ironically, the current 2019-nCoV causing COVID-19 demonstrated that our preparedness for emerging respiratory viral infections is far too inadequate. As with our ancestors a century ago, our best remedy for COVID-19 is constant hand washing and social distancing. Despite all these and reality, however, we have numerous antivirals, anti-inflammatory and organo-protective therapeutic agents of natural and synthetic origins. We also have antibiotics for secondary pneumonia infection of bacterial origin and other therapeutic agents with specific pharmacological targets. Repurposing what we already have appears to be our best option in the time of urgent need like the nemeses we face now by COVID-19. Against such background, this Commentary article was designed to stimulate research in this field by looking into targets and medicines (both traditional and modern) with implication to COVID-19.