Buying time: Drug repurposing to treat the host in COVID‐19H

Abstract In 2016 Fedson stated …. “For almost two decades, leading scientists and health officials have warned that we must prepare for a potentially devastating global pandemic of an infectious disease. Initial concern was focused on …H5N1…. More recently…a devastating outbreak of Ebola virus..(and) several other emerging viruses are believed to seriously threaten global health and global security. To prepare, scientists have been urged to discover new vaccines and treatments for these emerging viruses. At the same time, political leaders have been urged by global health experts to invest millions in a “top down” restructuring of the global health system. This article takes a different view. It focuses on an alternative approach to the scientific discovery of treatments for individual patients, reviews the mechanisms of action and clinical experience with specific drugs that might be useful, and considers whether or not recent lessons regarding this “bottom up” approach to treatment have been learned”. Now with a new virus and pandemic upon us, Fedson's 2016 comments appear chilling, are cause for reflection on what we have learnt and importantly offer focus on an immediate opportunity in the area of treating the host (Fedson DS, Ann Transl Med, 2016;4:421).