Researchers found that Remdesivir and chloroquine effectively inhibit the recently emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in vitro

These findings reveal that remdesivir and chloroquine are highly effective in the control of 2019-nCoV infection in vitro.  Since these compounds have been used in human patients with a safety track record and shown to be effective against various ailments, they suggested that they should be assessed in human patients suffering from the novel coronavirus disease.

An efficient approach to drug discovery is to test whether the existing antiviral drugs are effective in treating related viral infections. The 2019-nCoV belongs to Betacoronavirus which also contains SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome CoV (MERS-CoV). Several drugs, such as ribavirin, interferon, lopinavir-ritonavir, corticosteroids, have been used in patients with SARS or MERS, although the efficacy of some drugs remains controversial. In this study, we evaluated the antiviral efficiency of five FAD-approved drugs including ribavirin, penciclovir, nitazoxanide, nafamostat, chloroquine and two well-known broad-spectrum antiviral drugs remdesivir (GS-5734) and favipiravir (T-705) against a clinical isolate of 2019-nCoV in vitro. Read more in following links...

Full Paper

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41422-020-0282-0

PDF

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41422-020-0282-0.pdf