COVID-19: Drug targets and potential treatments.

Currently, we are immersed in a pandemic caused by the emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which severely threatens public health worldwide. Until now, no drug or vaccine has been approved to treat the severe disease caused by this coronavirus, COVID-19. We will focus on the main virus-based and host-based targets that can guide medicinal chemistry efforts to discover new drugs for this devastating disease. In principle, all CoVs enzymes and proteins involved in viral replication and the control of host cellular machineries are potentially druggable targets in the search for therapeutic options for SARS-CoV-2. This perspective provides an overview of the main targets from a structural point of view, together with reported therapeutic compounds with activity against SARS-CoV-2 and/or other CoVs. Also, the role of innate immune response to coronavirus infection and the related therapeutic options will be presented.