pharmaceuticals Review Tenofovir, Another Inexpensive, Well-Known and Widely Available Old Drug Repurposed for SARS-COV-2 Infection Isabella Zanella 1,2,* , Daniela Zizioli 1, Francesco Castelli 3 and Eugenia Quiros-Roldan 3 1 Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy;
[email protected] 2 Clinical Chemistry Laboratory, Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics Section, Diagnostic Department, ASST Spedali Civili di Brescia, Piazzale Spedali Civili 1, 25123 Brescia, Italy 3 University Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, University of Brescia and ASST Spedali Civili di Brescia, Piazzale Spedali Civili 1, 25123 Brescia, Italy;
[email protected] (F.C.);
[email protected] (E.Q.-R.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +39-030-399-6806 Abstract: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is spreading worldwide with different clinical manifestations. Age and comorbidities may explain severity in critical cases and people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) might be at particularly high risk for severe progression. Nonetheless, current data, although sometimes contradictory, do not confirm higher morbidity, risk of more severe COVID-19 or higher mortality in HIV-infected people with complete access to antiretroviral therapy (ART). A possible protective role of ART has been hypothesized to explain these observations. Anti-viral drugs used to treat HIV infection have been repurposed for COVID-19 treatment; this is also based on previous studies on severe acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome virus (MERS-CoV). Among Citation: Zanella, I.; Zizioli, D.; them, lopinavir/ritonavir, an inhibitor of viral protease, was extensively used early in the pandemic Castelli, F.; Quiros-Roldan, E.