Conclusion
The world has faced a new pandemic that has no proven pharmacotherapy
despite all the attempts to develop a new effective medicine or vaccine
with an acceptable safety profile. The current review has provided a
collective data on the potential beneficial properties of
methylxanthines like pentoxifylline and caffeine as an adjuvant therapy
to treat COVID-19 patients. Addressing the broad spectrum of COVID-19
symptoms including respiratory failure due to hypersensitivity and
exaggerated immune response, is challenging. Pentoxifylline and caffeine
with extensively proven therapeutic properties like anti-inflammatory,
antioxidant, immunomodulatory, antiviral, as well as their beneficial
effects in the alleviation of respiratory symptoms can be considered as
an adjuvant treatment in COVID-19 patients. Moreover, pentoxifylline can
also address the treatment of thrombotic complications, a recently
identified manifestation of COVID-19. Although direct evidence of
pentoxifylline and caffeine in COVID-19 patients are yet to be studied
and also possible side effects should be considered, the insights gained
from this review highlighted their efficacy and safety in COVID-19 and
can be used to develop additional strategies to tackle this global
challenge.