Darunavir
Darunavir is a protease enzyme inhibitor with activity against HIV-1. It prevents HIV replication through binding to the enzyme, stopping the dimerization and the catalytic activity of HIV-1 protease. SARS-CoV-2 being an RNA virus also uses protease enzyme which the drug inhibits, hence the drug is one of the antiviral candidates in clinical trial for the treatment of COVID-19.
Darunavir has bimodal activity against HIV-1 protease, enzymatic inhibition and protease dimerization inhibition. It has a high genetic barrier to the development of HIV-1 drug resistance (Aoki et al., 2018).
Adverse effects include blurred vision, sweating, increased urination, difficulty in breathing, jaundice, myalgia, facial puffiness, tachycardia, sore throat and vomiting (Antinori et al., 2019; Delicio et al., 2018).