Cardiovascular Safety of Potential Drugs for the Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic. It is still uncontrolled in most countries and no therapies are currently available. Various drugs are under investigation for its treatment. The disease is known to have worse outcomes in patients who have underlying cardiovascular disease. Chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, remdesivir and lopinavir/ritonavir are currently being studied in trials and show some promise. Conduction disorders, heart failure, and mortality have been reported with the use of these drugs. It is important to have knowledge of potential cardiotoxic effects of these drugs before using them for COVID-19 patients for better allocation of healthcare resources and improvement in clinical outcomes.