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Ayurvedic formulations: potential COVID-19 therapeutics?
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Ayurvedic formulations: potential COVID-19 therapeutics?

Anees Ahmed Mahaboob Ali, Andrea Bugarcic, Nenad Naumovski and Reena Ghildyal
Phytomedicine Plus : International Journal of Phytotherapy and Phytopharmacology, Vol.2(3), 100286
08/2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phyplu.2022.100286
PMID: 35474908
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Ayurvedic formulations: Potential COVID-19View
Published (Version of record)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0,  Open

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Abstract

Antivirals Ayurvedic formulations Clinical trials COVID-19 In silico molecular docking
The interest in anti-COVID-19 properties of Ayurvedic formulations has been reviewed. The Ayurvedic formulations appear to have prophylactic and/or therapeutic properties. The use of Ayurvedic formulations is justified in all COVID-19 stages. Ayurvedic formulations can be beneficial in reducing recovery time from COVID-19.•The use of Ayurvedic formulations as an “add-on” treatment can be beneficial. Background: While Molnupiravir and Paxlovid have recently been approved for use in some countries, there are no widely available treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Herbal extracts have been used to treat respiratory clinical indications by Ayurvedic medicine practitioners with minimal adverse reactions and intense research efforts are currently under way to develop some of these formulations for COVID-19 treatment. Methods: Literature search for in silico, in vitro, in vivo, and clinical studies on the topic of Ayurvedic formulations for potential COVID-19 treatment, in order to present the current state of current knowledge by integrating information across all systems. Results: The search yielded 20 peer reviewed articles on in silico studies examining the interaction of phytoconstituents of popular Ayurvedic formulations with SARS-CoV-2 components and its receptors; five articles on preclinical investigations of the ability of selected Ayurvedic formulations to inhibit functions of SARS-CoV-2 proteins; and 51 completed clinical trials on the efficacy of using Ayurvedic formulations for treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19. Clinical data was available from 17 of the 51 trials. There was a considerable overlap between formulations used in the in silico studies and the clinical trials. This finding was unexpected as there is no clearly stated alignment between studies and the traditional pathway to drug discovery– basic discovery leading to in vitro and in vivo proof of concept, followed by validation in clinical trials. This was further demonstrated in the majority of the in silico studies where focus was on potential antiviral mechanisms, while the clinical trials were focused on patient recovery using oral treatments. In all 17 clinical trials where data was available, Ayurvedic treatments lead to a shorter period to recovery in participants with COVID-19. Conclusion: The most commonly used Ayurvedic treatments for management of respiratory symptoms associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection appear to have prophylactic and/or therapeutic properties. It would be of particular interest to assess synergistic and concomitant systemic effects and antiviral activities of individual phytoconstituents and their combinations in the Ayurvedic treatments.

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